CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police are seeking the whereabouts of an elderly woman who is suspected of assisting in the dumping of the body of a male acquaintance in Togane City earlier this year, reports TV Asahi (May 10).
According to police, Kahoru Matsumoto, 70, is believed to have assisted Masayuki Shindo and Norio Oishi, both 69, in the alleged burial of the body of Gunsai Ouchi, 79, in a grove of trees in the Matsunogo area on January 21 and the following day.
Police arrested Shindo and Oishi on suspicion of abandoning a corpse on May 3. They both admitted to the allegations upon their arrest.
Shindo and Oishi said that Ouchi died inside a vehicle that was traveling outside the prefecture.
The matter emerged on May 2, when Shindo visited a police box in Chiba City. “It became painful to keep silent,” the suspect told police in confessing to the crime.
During questioning, Shindo said that Ouchi’s body was carried by car to the grove. A shovel was then used to dig a hole.
Officers using information provided by Shindo found Ouchi’s body at a depth of more than 20 centimeters on May 3.
Police believe that Matsumoto also traveled inside the vehicle during the dumping of the body. Though investigators have been unable to contact her, she was seen in security camera footage taken around Shin-Maruko Station in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture on May 6.
Police had previously said Ouchi consulted with the police twice last year regarding money-related problems between him and Matsumoto.
Persons with information on the case are advised to call the Chiba-Chuo Police Station at 043-244-0110.