SHIGA (TR) – In an unsolved case where a man’s dismembered body was found around Lake Biwa more than 15 years ago, police have arrested a 74-year-old man currently serving time for another murder case, reports NHK (Feb. 27).
On February 27, Shiga Prefectural Police accused 74-year-old Tomoyoshi Yuzuriha of murder. Police did not reveal whether he admits to the charges. The statute of limitations on abandoning a corpse has lapsed.
Between May and June 2008, pieces of the dismembered body of Hideyuki Kawamoto, then 39, were found one after another in six locations around the lake, including in the Omihachiman and Otsu areas.
During the course of the investigation, police treated the case as murder. Around the time of the incident, Yuzuriha was Kawamoto’s former colleague at a construction company.
At one point, it was learned that Yuzuriha may have suffocated Kawamoto to death by compressing his neck around mid-May 2008 in or around Shiga Prefecture.
The body of Kawamoto was not identified until 2018.
That same year, Yuzuriha was arrested and indicted for murder and other crimes for killing a 69-year-old man he knew, dismembering his body and abandoning it in a drainage ditch Kusatsu City and other areas.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Otsu District Court the following year. The sentence was finalized in 2021. He was serving his sentence at the Okayama Prison.
According to those involved in the investigation, Yuzuriha and Kawamoto had been living together for a time.
Police are continuing the investigation to learn the circumstances that led to the incident.
“Spent our days in sadness and pain”
The police released a statement from the family of Kawamoto. “When we found out it was [our relative], the investigation progressed and then didn’t,” the statement read. “We spent our days in sadness and pain. We are really happy to hear that the perpetrator has been arrested.”
According to a woman who works at a restaurant in Moriyama City, who knew both suspect Yuzuriha and Kawamoto, the two lived in the same worker’s dormitory for a time.
Regarding Kawamoto, the woman said, “I heard that he was very dexterous and had a license to operate heavy machinery. At the time, we would eat ramen together once or twice a month, bringing our son, who was about elementary school age. When I heard seven years ago that the body was Kawamoto’s, I was shocked and felt sorry for him.”
Regarding Yuzuriha, she said, “He was from Saga Prefecture and would come to eat ramen and drink with five or six other people from the same worker’s dormitory. He would tell people around him a lie about his real name. When he got angry, he would sometimes hit people over the head.”
“Without giving up”
A former Shiga Prefectural Police Headquarters official who was involved in the investigation until about seven years ago expressed happiness over the arrest.
“It’s really good for the victim and his family,” the former officer said, “I would like to express my condolences for them. When we were investigating, we didn’t know who the suspect was. He later came to light after an arrest in another murder case, but I heard that they hadn’t been able to start because they didn’t have the necessary evidence. As times change, I think it must have taken a lot of effort to accumulate evidence and make this arrest. I would like to express my respect to the investigators who continued their investigation and efforts without giving up.”
