OSAKA (TR) – Investigative sources with the Osaka Prefectural Police have revealed that the father of a boy from Saiki City who has been missing for three years claims he dumped the child’s body in a mountainous area of Nara Prefecture, reports Nippon News Network (Nov. 5).
On Friday, dozens of officers began searching a forested area of Gose City, Nara known as Mizukoshi Ridge for the remains of Tatsuki Kajimoto, who would be 4, after his father, 35-year-old Suguru, said it is the location of where he dumped the boy’s body in May.
“With the body wrapped in a futon, I carried it via a car by myself,” Suguru said, according to TV Asahi (Nov. 5). “My wife had no idea.”
Police did find a futon in the area, though it did not contain any signs of blood, according to Fuji News Network (Nov. 6).
The claim by Suguru represents a change from previous testimony. In October, police arrested him and his wife, 32-year-old Chiho, for fraudulently receiving child-car allowance for their son. During questioning, Suguru said he dumped the boy’s body in the ocean.
Regarding the boy’s death, Suguru said, “Last December, he died after falling from stairs at a residence in Matsubara City (Osaka). The body was then moved with us to a home in Sakai while wrapped in bedding, but after a smell developed I abandoned it in late May.”
According to the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 4), Chiho claims that the last time she saw Tastsuki was when her husband left with him just before Christmas Day last year. “I haven’t seen him since,” the suspect is quoted.
Tatsuki was last known to have been seen at an institution in December of 2013. Both suspects took him from the facility when they were living in Matsubara.
