OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested a man and his wife after the discovery of the body of their 33-year-old daughter, who is believed to have been confined in a small room in their residence in Neyagawa City for a 15-year period, reports NHK (Dec. 26).
On December 23, police found the body of Airi Kakimoto in the residence after the couple reported her death.
Police subsequently arrested Yasutaka Kakimoto, 55, and his wife, 53-year-old Yukari Kakimoto, on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. Airi is believed to have died around December 18, police said.
The results of an autopsy revealed that Airi froze to death. She was also malnourished, weighing only 19 kilograms while standing 145 centimeters tall.
The suspects told police upon their arrest that they confined their daughter to the small room, measuring 3.3 square meters, from the age of 16 or 17 after she began suffering from a mental disorder that caused her to become violent. They also said they fed her once per day.
According to the police, the parents remodeled their residence such that the small room was added as a extension. The room was outfitted with a double door that cannot be opened from the inside.
Heavily fortified
The residence was heavily fortified. The entire property is surrounded by a two-meter-tall wooden fence. Additionally, police have discovered a surveillance system installed on the property whose 10 cameras, mounted on the fence and a utility pole, point to the street, according to Kyodo News (Dec. 27)
The room was not heated, and it was outfitted with a makeshift toilet and a tube for drinking water from a tank positioned outside, police said.
Police are now investigating whether to add charges of confinement to the suspects.
