KANAGAWA (TR) – Following a confession by gang boss currently on death row for a murder in 2003, Tokyo and Kanagawa police have discovered a corpse in a mountainous area of Isehara City that is believed to be a man killed in a separate case, reports TBS News (April 19).
On Tuesday, investigators scouring a wooded area found skeletal remains clothed in pajamas. The remains are likely that of Shizuo Tsugawa, a 60-year-old real estate executive, who is believed to have been murdered two decades ago.
Officers were working off a tip provided by Osamu Yano, a 67-year-old former head of the Yano Mutsumi-kai, a one time affiliate gang of the Sumiyoshi-kai.
Yano is currently on death row for ordering two members of his gang to carry out a shooting that left four people dead at a “snack” hostess club in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture on January 25, 2003.
In the Kanagawa case, Yano has admitted to murdering the real estate executive in 1996 over a dispute the gang had with him over a redevelopment project near Isehara Station.
A DNA analysis will be used to determine if the remains are in fact those of Tsugawa.
Depending on the progression of the investigation, police may apply murder charges to Yano.
