Couple rearrested over daughter’s freezing death

January 3, 2018

Osaka- A Japanese couple who have been arrested after the death of their 33-year-old daughter were served with fresh arrest warrants on Tuesday for allegedly confining her for at least 15 years illegally before she froze to death.

The daughter, Airi Kakimoto, had been kept in a tiny room in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, since around 2002, before freezing to death while in a state of extreme malnutrition around Dec. 18 last year, the prefectural police department said.

Her father, Yasutaka, 55, and his wife, Yukari, 53, failed to take necessary steps to protect Airi though they were aware that the daughter would die, the police said.

Specifically, the parents failed to feed their daughter properly and give her medical care though her health became very poor after she started losing weight quickly around January last year, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The parents were first arrested on Dec. 23 on suspicion of disposing of a body after surrendering to the police.

Airi stood 145 centimeters tall and weighed only 19 kilograms when her body was discovered in the unheated room. She was fed once a day. The room was locked from outside and was being monitored with surveillance cameras.

The parents have told police investigators that Airi had been kept in the room for treatment and fed properly, according to the sources.

Previously, the parents said their daughter had been confined since she was 16 or 17 years old due to mental illness, according to the sources. Jiji Press