KYOTO – Following the arrest of a 37-year-old company employee early Thursday for allegedly abandoning the body of his adoptive son in a mountainous area of Nantan City, police have revealed that the suspect has admitted to murder, reports the Sankei Shimbun (April 16).
Yuki Adachi is accused of dumping the body of his 11-year-old adoptive son, also named Yuki, a student at Sonobe Elementary School, sometime between the morning of March 23 and the afternoon of April 13.
“There is no mistake about what I did,” the suspect told investigators, fully admitting to the charge of abandoning a corpse. According to investigative sources, he has also confessed to murdering the boy.
The child was reported missing in March. Prior to his arrest, the adoptive father claimed he had dropped the boy off at his elementary school at around 8:00 a.m. on March 23.
During a press conference at the Nantan Police Station on Thursday morning, Kyoto Prefectural Police confirmed the boy was alive until the morning of March 23. However, police withheld details on whether the suspect actually took the boy to school that day, stating that revealing such information could hinder the ongoing investigation.
A major breakthrough in the case came when investigators analyzed the location data on the father’s smartphone. By tracking his movement history, police narrowed down the search area. This led to the discovery of the boy’s shoes on April 12, followed by his body in a wooded area in Sonobecho the next day.
Authorities believe the suspect acted alone. Investigators also suspect the father may have moved the corpse to multiple locations within the city before finally leaving it in the woods.
A 37-officer investigation headquarters has been established at the Nantan Police Station to carefully examine the exact circumstances of the boy’s death. Meanwhile, police and child welfare centers noted that there had been no prior reports or consultations regarding abuse or violence involving the child.
