HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police announced on Monday that the dismembered remains of a man discovered inside a large freezer in a Kobe City apartment belonged to a former resident who is believed to have been dead for over a decade, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 22).
The victim was identified as 57-year-old Yutaka Nishiguchi, whose occupation remains unknown. Following an autopsy, medical examiners were unable to determine the exact cause of death, but investigators estimate Nishiguchi died around December 2011.
The gruesome discovery unfolded after another resident reported a “foul odor” to the building’s management company on June 19. The management company contacted the Ikuta Police Station, but responding officers were initially unable to enter the locked apartment.
Officers returned on the next afternoon with a locksmith and gained entry. Inside, they found Nishiguchi’s mutilated body inside a large freezer. According to investigative sources, the clothed corpse was not frozen at the time of discovery.
Police noted that no murder weapon was found near the body.
A special investigative headquarters has been established at the Ikuta Police Station, and authorities are actively investigating the case on suspicion of the mutilation and abandonment of a corpse.
The apartment is located in a quiet residential area in Chuo Ward, approximately 700 meters northwest of JR Motomachi Station.
