A man has been arrested in Osaka, Japan for killing his seven-year-old niece and sealing her body in cement almost 20 years ago.
The child’s body was discovered after the suspect, 41-year-old Noriyuki Iimori, abandoned a metal box — measuring 88cm long and filled with concrete — in an apartment that had once been his father’s residence.
This occurred in November of last year.
Source: YTV
On 25 Feb, the apartment manager found the box inside a closet and contacted the police after being unable to reach the former resident.
Initially, the police inspected the box but found nothing unusual.
However, the apartment manager remained suspicious and called the police again two days later.
This time, a different officer arrived, noticed a slight odour emanating from the box, and prompted a full investigation.
X-ray imaging revealed a mummified body curled up inside the box.
On 3 March, police confirmed that the body in the box is believed to belong to a girl around six to seven years old and approximately 3’6″ tall.
Her estimated time of death was in 2007.
The autopsy also revealed that the cause of death was “bleeding due to strong force applied to the left abdominal organs”.
During questioning, Iimori admitted to the charges and revealed that the body was that of his sister’s daughter, whom he had looked after around a decade ago.
He also stated that the girl was about seven years old when the crime occurred.
Source: YTV
“At the time, she didn’t listen to me, so I hit her as discipline,” he alleged. “The child cried, then went to sleep, but when I woke up in the morning, she was cold.”
Iimori claimed that sealing the body in cement was his father’s suggestion, and that his father had helped him do it.
Authorities are now questioning Iimori’s father, who is in his 80s, and are searching for his sister, the girl’s mother.
The suspect’s common-law wife also told police that she had helped him carry the metal box to the apartment at his request, but she claimed she did not know there was a body inside.
Also read: Elderly woman in Taiwan kept daughter’s corpse at home for 6 years with aircon constantly on
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Featured image adapted from YTV.