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Pair not prosecuted over alleged dumping of corpse of elderly acquaintance in Hamamatsu

SHIZUOKA (TR) – Prosecutors have decided to not prosecute a man and a woman over the alleged dumping of the corpse of an elderly acquaintance in the mountains of Hamamatsu City, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 26).

Around February 2018, Masaya Morishita, 47, and Kanami Koide, 49, allegedly buried the body of Hisayo Takahashi, 83, in a mountainous area of Tenryu Ward.

During questioning by police, Morishita divulged the location of Takahashi’s body. Police found the corpse on August 6.

Police accused the pair of abandoning a corpse in September. Also involved in the crime was Takahashi’s 55-year-old son, whose name was not divulged.

Police found the body of Hisayo Takahashi in a forest in Hamamatsu City on August 6

“I just procured a shovel”

The son died due to suicide after abandoning the corpse of his mother, police believe. His corpse was later found on another mountain, according to Shizuoka Asahi Television (Sept. 25).

“The abandoning of the body was requested by Koide and her son before his death,” Morishita previously told police. “The body was placed in her son’s car. As for me, I just found the place [to dump it] and procured a shovel.”

On Thursday, prosecutors with the Hamamatsu branch of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the non-prosecution of Morishita and Koide.

In not prosecuting the pair, prosecutors acknowledged that Takahashi’s
body was found through testimony from Morishita. However, they added
that since the statements of Morishita and Koide did not match “sufficient evidence could not be obtained to prosecute.”

Theft case

In April, police first arrested Morishita and Koide, both of no known occupation, as a part of a theft investigation. At the time, they were in possession of bank cards belonging to Takahashi and her son.

Police later arrested the pair for allegedly using the card belonging to the son to withdraw a total of 600,000 yen from his account between July of last year and April.

In September, police further accused the suspects of using the card of Takahashi to withdraw a total of 4 million yen from her account. By this point of the investigation, her whereabouts were unknown.

Takahashi was an acquaintance of the suspects. Kyodo News (Sept. 26) reported that Takahashi’s son was an antique dealer. Around when Koide’s father sold Takahashi’s son a game board, Takahashi frequented Koide’s residence in Hamamatsu City’s Higashi Ward.

Police also sent papers on the deceased son to prosecutors on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. They alleged that he colluded with Morshita and Koide in not reporting his mother’s death and dumping her body. He was also not prosecuted on Thursday.

However, Morishita and Koide were prosecuted over the alleged theft of
funds from Takahashi’s bank account.