OSAKA (TR) – The girlfriend of a 41-year-old man in custody for abandoning a body found packed in concrete inside a clothing case in an apartment in Yao City has also been arrested for assisting in the crime, Osaka Prefectural Police have revealed, reports Yomiuri TV (Mar. 7).
Noriyuki Iimori, who lives in Osaka City’s Hirano Ward, previously told police that the corpse found encased in concrete is that of his older sister’s daughter. At the time, the girl was living with Iimori. She died around 10 years ago, when she about the age of 7.
In the latest development, police on Thursday arrested Juri Shibata, the 36-year-old girlfriend of Iimori, on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. Police allege that she assisted in moving the body.
“I didn’t know there was a body inside,” Shibata said in denying the allegations. “I thought Iimori’s father’s work tools were inside.”
According to police, Iimori and Shibata began dating sometime around 2023. Though she claims to be unaware that there was a body inside the clothing case when she moved it with a dolly, police believe otherwise, saying that through questioning Iimori and other related parties they know that she was in fact aware.
Mummified remains
The incident emerged on February 25, after the manager of the apartment building in Yao reported that the previous occupant had left behind the metal clothing case.
Iimori’s father, currently aged in his 80s, lived alone in the apartment building from late October last year. However, he later moved out to enter a facility.
Police previously said that the metal clothing case was found in a closet in the apartment. During an imaging scan, a human figure was identified.
After breaking open the concrete, police found mummified remains. The person stood about 110 centimeters tall. Damage to the abdominal organs and bleeding were confirmed. Osaka police believe that the person was assaulted before their death.
Prior to living in the Yao apartment, the father lived in a house in Taishido, about 200 meters away.
Iimori previously said that he had been taking care of the girl because his sister had left home. An investigative source last week said that Iimori told police that he had “transported the body” from the Taishido house to the Yao apartment in early November last year.
Based on previous reports, Iimori’s father assisted his son in encasing the body in concrete.
On March 2, Osaka police sent Iimori to the prosecutor’s office on suspicion of abandoning a corpse.
Police are still working to confirm the identity of the body.
