More bodies found in Kagoshima murder case

April 9, 2018

Hioki, Kagoshima Pref.- Police discovered on Sunday two bodies seen as likely to be those of missing family members of the suspect of a triple murder case in Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The two bodies were found following testimony by Tomohiro Iwakura, 38, who was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of killing one of three people who were found dead in a house on Friday.

The newly discovered corpses, which are heavily damaged, are believed to be those of Hisako Iwakura, 89-year-old grandmother of the suspect, and his 68-year-old father. They were found in a mountain forest about 400 meters from the house.

According to the Kagoshima prefectural police department, the suspect, who is unemployed, said he murdered all five people in the house.

The police plan to investigate his motive for the murders and other details of the case, sources said.

He told investigators that he killed his father and grandmother in the house and buried their bodies, the sources said.

The suspect was arrested on Saturday on charges of choking Hiroyuki Goto, a 47-year-old neighbor, to death. Goto was found dead in the house on Friday along with two women.

The two women were Takako Iwakura, a 69-year-old daughter-in-law of the suspect's grandmother, and Kuniko Sakaguchi, a 72-year-old sister of Takako Iwakura. Autopsies found that both were strangled, the sources said.

The police sent the suspect to public prosecutors on Sunday on charges of killing Goto. Jiji Press