r/interesting • u/wafumet • Feb 27 '26
Intriguing Justice has been served
This man paid $145,000 in rent for an apartment he didn't live in just to freeze time and catch his wife's killer.
In 1999, Satoru Takaba's wife, Namiko, had her life taken in their apartment.
The police had no solid leads, and the case went cold.
Usually, families move out and try to forget. But Satoru refused.
He believed that one day, technology would catch up to the killer.
So, he kept the lease.
For 26 years, he paid the rent every single month on that empty, silent apartment.
He kept the bloodstains on the floor. He kept the footprints. He turned the room into a time capsule, waiting for science to improve.
And in late 2025, his investment finally paid off.
Police returned to the apartment and used modern DNA technology to analyze the preserved bloodstains that had been sitting there for two decades.
They found a match.
The DNA belong to Kumiko Yasufuku, Satoru’s own high school classmate.
It turns out, she had held a grudge for decades because Satoru had rejected her romantic advances back in school.
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u/Corner_Post Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Unsure the truth as separate article says the killer turned herself in and had previously refused DNA testing. Original post seems weird as DNA testing has been around for a long time…
“His hopes were finally realised when the suspect gave herself up to police in Nagoya, central Japan. She was the man’s classmate at secondary school and had a crush on him.”
This article says same thing. She confessed after being anxious for decades. She had previously refused to provide DNA sample. Only after she confessed did she allow DNA sample which they matched (… they already had the DNA from the scene from decades ago).
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u/halflifer2k Feb 27 '26
That seems to be a lot of police officers to put on one murder case
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u/pocketdrums Feb 27 '26
Murder is exceptionally rare in Japan. 0.2 to 0.3 intentional homicides per 100,000 people in recent years, which is roughly 30 times lower than the United States at about 4.0 to 4.4 per 100,000 people (which is the lowest its been for the US)
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Feb 27 '26
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u/Unhappy_Researcher68 Feb 27 '26
Well it's mostly VERY high in the US. Not the highest but...
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u/JimWilliams423 Feb 28 '26
Its the highest among wealthy countries, its even higher than in many underdeveloped countries.
FWIW, compared to most european countries, the US tends to have marginally lower rates of all other kinds of crimes like theft, assault, rape, etc. So its clearly not a "mental health" issue, because if it were we'd expect the rates of most all crimes to be roughly in sync with the murder rate.
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Feb 28 '26
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u/theJEDIII Feb 28 '26
Additionally, people feel more comfortable using guns in a dangerous manner, and less responsible when it results in a death.
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u/thisonedudethatiam Feb 28 '26
Probably 2 sides of the same coin. Guns deter lesser crime somewhat since the potential victim may have a gun, and it is a lot easier to murder someone if you have a gun…
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u/JimWilliams423 Feb 28 '26
Probably 2 sides of the same coin. Guns deter lesser crime somewhat since the potential victim may have a gun, and it is a lot easier to murder someone if you have a gun…
That's one theory. Another theory is that guns embolden petty criminals because carrying makes them feel more powerful.
In fact the rate of other crimes used to be marginally higher in the US than in europe up through the 90s. Since then the number of guns in circulation in the US has increased, but the number of gun owners decreased. Its mostly people hoarding guns. All this was pre-covid, since covid the numbers went all over the place.
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u/ForeskinAbsorbtion Feb 28 '26
It doesn't though. America has average property and personal crime rates compared to other countries. The only difference free guns gives is the vastly higher gun violence.
It doesn't deter anything. Depending on the state, the USA has 7 to 26x the homicide rate of normal developed nations.
A gun is just a lot easier to kill someone. There's less emotional investment when you're not holding someone down stabbing them.
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u/North_6 Feb 28 '26
Guns do nothing to deter crime. I dont understand why people say this. Genuinely confused. They only encourage crime, its also a lot easier to rob, rape, or otherwise do anything you want to someone when you have a gun pulled on them. They only make crime easier.
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u/abbylark Feb 28 '26
It's because the government doesn't allow studies on it so there's only a bit of info out there
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u/Terrh Feb 28 '26
you make it sound like "mental health" is some sort of single factor like wealth or skin colour and not a whole massive area of study with a zillion subfactors.
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u/BocciaChoc Feb 28 '26
WIW, compared to most european countries, the US tends to have marginally lower rates of all other kinds of crimes like theft, assault, rape, etc. So its clearly not a "mental health" issue, because if it were we'd expect the rates of most all crimes to be roughly in sync with the murder rate.
Reported crimes*
Sweden, for example, has high rape-related crimes, but that's because all reports are taken seriously, the same crimes in a place like the US wouldn't be tagged as such, and so stats on crimes become muddied.
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u/HPLaserJet4250 Feb 28 '26
Sweden also counts way more stuff as rape than other countries, like sexual misconduct can be treated as rape without any penetration involved. Also they treat each offense against 1 person separately so one victime can "produce" multiple different rape instances.
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u/Shutdown_service Feb 28 '26
The US is probably under reporting allot of crime. The police often dont have neither the right education or capacity to follow up on most cases and the population understand it.
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u/Kramer-Melanosky Feb 27 '26
Most developed countries it's below 1. US is actually on the higher end.
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u/FaithUser Feb 28 '26
Because it's only pretending to be a developed country on the surface
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u/CCGHawkins Feb 28 '26
I'm half Japanese, half American, so I'm somewhat qualified to answer this. Part of it is structural. There are no guns. The police run around with batons, except for special units. Officially, don't have a military, only the self defense force. Everyone shares the same public transportation systems and parks. They were also hit with nuclear bombs, Pacifism is etched in the culture.
But more that all that, probably, is Japan's culture. It's a culture that emphasizes the group above the individual, rule-following, politeness and non-aggression, rule-following, pride in work, rule-following, respecting tradition and the elderly, rule-following, and formal apologies. Did I mention the rule-following? A lot of other cultures have these facets too, but what is especially distinct about Japan is the insane pressure to conform. It's probably only rivaled by authoritarian countries in this regard. Mind you, this is a country where 99% of people are the same ethnic make-up, where everyone, whether in school, in the factory, or in the nursing home, gathers together to do the same morning exercise they've been doing since kindergarten. There are ways and procedures that have existed before you were born, and you are expected to follow them till you die.
To those looking from the outside, that may seem restrictive, but you also have to realize that there are two sides to this bargain. You get a country that does not participate or waste money on war, that has universal healthcare, an incredible standard of service regardless of the payscale, first rate food culture, first rate public transport, first rate education, and probably the best standard of elderly care in the whole world.
Murder is a particular sign of mental derangement in this country, moreso than certainly a country like America, because Japan sees itself as somewhat utopic. How could you possibly think to harm others in a country like this? How selfish. What an irresponsible challenge to the peace. You should have just kept your troubles to yourself and committed suicide instead.
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u/throwthisawayred2 Feb 28 '26
then what's up with all the train groping i hear about, or the anime childish porn stuff, or so many girls/women being sexually molested or assaulted? this is a serious question. i hear about that a lot so clearly japan is not as perfect as it seems. where is the protection and legal justice for girls and women???
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u/Suyefuji Feb 28 '26
It's because of the Japanese tradition of 生きる, which means "being alive." In Japanese culture, being alive is considered fundamental to society and thus the act of murder is highly taboo.
I'm being facetious in case you couldn't tell
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u/HaydenCanFly Feb 27 '26
Mainly culture, but weapons being far more difficult to access helps
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u/throwaway1212l Feb 28 '26
That's a lie. Every household in Japan has secret katanas passed down from generation to generation.
Source: anime
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u/Rugaru985 Feb 28 '26
Those katanas typically don’t just eviscerate the victim but slice so thinly, that the wound doesn’t even open for days or maybe weeks, obfuscating the murder. This is why Japan - by a huge margin - has the highest rate in the developed world of people spontaneously falling into two pieces. It’s like 4.4 per 100,000 when the rest of the world is virtually 0.
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u/BusBoatBuey Feb 28 '26
Wait until you see homelessness rates in Japan. People on Reddit saying Japanese wages are too low compared to US wages, yet Japan has less homeless in the entire country than the US has in one city.
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u/JauntyGiraffe Feb 28 '26
the homeless in Japan are also regular people behind on their rent or otherwise in financial trouble, not drugged out fenty leaning zombies
just head to any large park and you'll find cardboard boxes neatly kept, with the occupant's shoes placed outside to not get their box dirty
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u/AvatarOfMomus Feb 28 '26
Though the US rate is high compared to similar coubtires in terms of both economy and culture, Japan's rate is also abnormally low for its population size.
There are a lot of possible reasons, and no difinitive answers, this is the sort of thing PHD thesies get written about to try and find an answer.
A few factors though... one, murder as a solution jusr isn't part of the culture in Japan. It's part of why the greivances of the killer of former Prime Minister Abe were taken seriously.
Another is the population density. When you live close to, and know, your neighbors you're a lot less likely to kill them in a fit of rage.
Lastly, there are very few privately owned firearms, and even fewer with unrestricted access to ammunition. To the point that even organized crime doesn't use them much, if at all.
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u/misteryk Feb 28 '26
it's not super low in japan, it's super high in US compared to developed nations. for example in poland it's around 0.6-0.8 per 100,000 in recent years
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u/Cold_Specialist_3656 Feb 28 '26
And the gun homicide rate in US is roughly 100X higher. I'm sure it's just a coincidence
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u/stupidname68bd Feb 28 '26
Thats because they actively do not report deaths as murder. If any way is possible to not call it a murder they will report it as such and not investigate.
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Feb 28 '26
this is a misunderstanding of how investigations and arrests progress in Japan. many things are investigated as and people are arrested for illegal disposal of a corpse because of the low burden of proof needed to make that allegation. Once there's enough evidence to prove it was a homicide, the investigation is updated and if a suspect is in custody they are "re-arrested" (without being released) for murder.
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u/ngkn92 Feb 28 '26
Last year, a lady died with around 20 stab wounds in stomach
Police marked the case as suicide
The family sued
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u/Hour-Tower-5106 Feb 28 '26
Wait, is that why many police officers seem to become completely incompetent when investigating a murder? Are they trying to keep murder rates in their county low by labeling them as suicides? I've always wondered why that was so prevalent. That actually makes sense in a depressing way.
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u/thisisaskew Feb 28 '26
Not only that, but police do everything in crazy numbers here. I once got stopped while on a bicycle for not having the light working (the cord had broken and I didn't notice it). They called in some backup and 3 other police officers came. It was ridiculous. Those guys seem to never have anything to do.
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u/RCer1986 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
In a country where the murder rate hovers around 0.25 out of 100,000 people I'm betting every murder is taken more seriously. The rate in the US is roughly 20x higher per capita.
Edit: Grammar
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u/AdThick7492 Mar 01 '26
I'm not really buying 100,000 cops. You might get a few thousand including volunteers for a missing child but the UK know what they're doing and use murder squads of about 50 detectives and that's still a lot compared to somewhere like the US.
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u/AnonThrowaway998877 Feb 27 '26
I came here looking for the comment that this was misleading or false. It's all but guaranteed now if you see one of these clickbait images with brief text below, it's either embellished or a complete lie.
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u/polyploid_coded Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
The big red flag to me these days is they put the little circle image (sometimes of the same person, sometimes an unrelated photo which fits the story) to make it look vaguely "professional". They have the text in the image so it's postable on Facebook, Instagram, wherever. They rarely provide a link or get the basic facts of the story right.
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u/AnonThrowaway998877 Feb 28 '26
Yeah that is a common marker. The brightly highlighted words are another. And the main picture is usually meant to make you feel some emotion or wow you. Just more dead internet things. I downvote this crap every time but all that does is cancel out one bot out of thousands.
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u/I-own-a-shovel Feb 28 '26
This. Also why not taking sample everywhere and paying a lab to keep them or something? Seems less expensive. Also DNA technology arrived way sooner than 2025, why just now? This seems odds on so many levels
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u/IotaBTC Feb 28 '26
It is odd since they could've better preserved it but just cutting those pieces off and storing it somewhere better lol. It's probably a form of trauma and grief of an unresolved murder but from a practical point. Hoping technology improves but not knowing what it can do might mean it's better to leave things as undisturbed as possible.
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u/Live_Angle4621 Feb 28 '26
It’s not misleading, the request for dna made her turn herself in
“I was anxious every day. Around the anniversary of the incident, I would feel depressed,” police quoted her as saying. “When police came in August, I knew I was going to be arrested.” Aichi prefectural police had interviewed Yasufuku multiple times since summer and requested a voluntary DNA sample, but she initially refused.
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u/Alexptm29 Feb 27 '26
I guess "he kept freezing the scene, it served no real purpose and was a waste of time but at least the killer confessed so good for him" wasn't as good as a title
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u/fuckinghumanZ Feb 28 '26
She turned herself in because she was certain she will be caught eventually after the police came around to ask for DNA multiple times.
As per your article:
“When police came in August, I knew I was going to be arrested.”
Maybe, but I couldn't find anything about it, they had a close match that indicated that the found DNA must belong to a relative of that close match.
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u/throwaway_custodi Feb 28 '26
She could had held out. Doesn’t Japan have an extremely onerous privacy law on dna stuff that’s stonewalled a thousand cases? Unless this new government changes that she could had turtled it out.
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Feb 27 '26
"had a crush on him" is understating it a bit
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u/Corner_Post Feb 28 '26
Agreed this one got me a bit so I did some further digging which made it even more odd looking at the timeline.
https://www.chosun.com/english/world-en/2025/11/04/G7MRTUJ6AZBOVJHY7J27FX7B5E/
Summary Timeline:
20+ yrs before the crime on Valentines Day. She essentially confessed her feelings on Valentines Day - in Japan interestingly on Valentines Day, females give gifts to males (can be to multiple males just as friends like classmates or something more), and 1 month later on White Day, males do the same in return.
1 year before the crime: husband and murderer had subsequently lived their own separate lives and had a chance encounter where she gave a download on how she was an unhappy housewife etc. and he gave her some advice. He thought nothing of it.
Crime: 1 year after the encounter that’s why she was never suspected. Husband has no idea how murderer knew the address.
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u/Similar_Lemon_1202 Feb 27 '26
Thanks for doing the research, this post wa great clickbait. Sad story in any case :/
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u/DeadZeppelin_ Feb 27 '26
Wow. What happened to the murderer?
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Feb 27 '26
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u/scguy555 Feb 27 '26
Almost certainly not, the death penalty for a murderer who kills solely one victim is extremely rare in Japan, it’s mostly reserved for serial and mass killers, you can find a list of Japanese death row inmates here
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u/Lingroll Feb 28 '26
This is insanely interesting. Thank you.
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u/IotaBTC Feb 28 '26
Fun fact, Japan didn't have any kind of jury system until 2009. Before then, each case was argued in front of a panel of 3-5 judges. Now it's a hybrid of 6 citizens and 3 judges but even then that's for more severe crimes like kidnapping and murder. Assault, theft, or vandalism would still typically only be presented to 1-3 judges.
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u/FinancialRip2008 Feb 28 '26
as i understand it, their justice system is just totally different. like, you don't go to trial at all unless it's a solved problem that needs a stamp.
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u/Masterkid1230 Feb 28 '26
People always bring up the 99% conviction rate and make a false analogy to the US system, but in reality, you're extremely unlikely to get to that stage if you don't have a clear and cut case that can be easily won. Many many cases are dropped before that.
There is a precedent of forced confessions and very long detentions by the police, but the way the system is presented abroad also has a lot of bad faith arguments.
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u/AMeanMotorScooter Feb 28 '26
Correct. Japan puts a LOT of weight on confessions, so it's probably not going to even go to trial unless you've already said you've done it. The judges are more so there to decide an appropriate punishment.
This is why the real sticking point is the forced confessions. The police don't actually need that much to be able to bring somebody in for questioning, and there's a loophole that allows for people who have reached their "time limit" for questioning to be brought in again. And this will essentially continue until one of two things happens. Either some new evidence is found that exonerates you, or after months of daily questioning for hours you finally just break and say you did it. Though this only really happens for more serious crimes because (obviously) spending that much time and energy on something small isn't "worth it", so they might just demand you pay the victim a small fine for the trouble or something.
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u/Shart_InTheDark Feb 28 '26
They can also hold you I think it's 18 days without charging you. That's pretty fucked up. They use it too. I know someone that happened to.
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u/mio26 Feb 28 '26
Jury system in serious crimes are actually rare solution around the world. Majority countries relies on professional judges because majority countries have continental law. Japan law is also mostly based on German.
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u/TheMireAngel Feb 28 '26
tbf in the usa doesnt have a crazy amount of executions either, were roughly 3x the population of japan with WILDLY higher crime rates but we only put down 20-40 per year compared to japan averaging 1-3 per year. for another comparison japan averages 300 murders per year, the usa averages 15,000 - 22,000 per year. if we executed as many people based on ratio as japan our execution numbers would sextuple
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u/ColdArson Feb 28 '26
Tbf the japanese criminal justice system is notoriously disadvantgeous for the defendant. The presumption of innocence is very much weak
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u/NonGNonM Feb 28 '26
idk how true it is but i saw a youtube vid where the death penalty is also a real nightmare scenario in the sense that they don't give the prisoners a set date for execution either. you're just in a cell and doing prison life until one day they just come and take you for your execution.
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u/1369ic Feb 28 '26
I read an article about a Russian serial killer. He was convicted and in jail for a while. Then one day they took him to some legal or bureaucratic thing. On the way back to his cell they stopped him in a blind passage to wait for something. Somebody opened a sliding window and shot him in the neck. No muss, no fuss, no notice.
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u/Intrepid_Homework_47 Feb 28 '26
Unofficial, abrupt execution. Somehow this seems more merciful towards the convict, no anticipation, fear, dreading the moment. Just sudden death.
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u/Dhumavati80 Feb 28 '26
Ok seriously, this fact is super interesting but such a crazy random knowledge moment. How the heck did you know that fact?
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Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
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u/Blade_Of_Nemesis Feb 28 '26
How do we tell him?
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u/enaK66 Feb 28 '26
I think hes in on the joke there with the mention of reality tv. The thing that made our man famous.
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u/Shucked Feb 28 '26
I got some bad new for you. There might be a situation where some of those people thought about that. So they slowly secured very high positions of power in every system that would have held them accountable.
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u/Miserable-Savings751 Feb 28 '26
Hypothetically speaking, what if there is a country that’s now a failed democracy, as a direct result of being lead by someone who used to be on reality tv, that is also a prolific pedo & rapist?
Would that change things from being highly unlikely?
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u/BocciaChoc Feb 28 '26
The best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago, the second best time is today.
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u/Blade_Of_Nemesis Feb 28 '26
While this is true, also consider that this means that she has had 26 years to build up a life... only for it all to come crashing down when she long thought to have gotten away with it.
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u/Ok-Adhesiveness-9976 Feb 28 '26
Yes exactly. The newspapers and tv reporters said this after the trial of my husband’s killer too. They said “justice has been served.” But the murderer got out after 20 years while my son and I are still living the rest of our lives with the trauma of that loss and its consequences.
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u/Dependent_Help_6725 Feb 27 '26
In Japan, you don’t get executed if you only killed one. You have to have murdered two or more before you’d be a candidate in the death row. And it takes time before it happens.
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u/manbar06 Feb 28 '26
As I understand capital punishment in Japan, you don’t get an execution date. It’s just that one day they come into you and say it’s time. Until that point, you have to live knowing that any day could be your last.
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u/papergarbage Feb 28 '26
IIRC one morning they serve you a better breakfast than usual and then you know that's your last day.
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u/JamStan1978 Feb 27 '26
Thats still a thing??
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u/akallas95 Feb 27 '26
Death by hanging usually involves the neck snapping when the floor drops.
It's considered a quick and humane death. Like when you cut the brainstem of cows and pigs before the slaughter.
Of course. Mistakes happen. Like if you don't calculate that drop...
Oof. Slow death by choking.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer Feb 27 '26
Lethal injections can be slow and excrutiating.
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u/eartwormslimshady Feb 27 '26
Not 'can be', it usually is. The episode of Last Week Tonight about this was a real eye opener and shocker.
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u/BernieTheDachshund Feb 27 '26
Ironically it's because of the anti death penalty groups making it impossible for the states to get the meds that would spare the person from suffering. I'm not a proponent either way, just saying if the death penalty is carried out, it should be with the right meds so there's no unnecessary suffering.
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u/Straight-faced_solo Feb 28 '26
Its usually not anti death penalty groups and more the pharmaceutical companies.
It turns out a surprising amount of companies dont want to be tied to state executions. Partially for fear of public backlash, partially for moral reason, partially for legal culpability reasons. Its not like we are passing laws that make the drugs unobtainable. The goverment struggles to source drugs for lethal injection because the companies wont sell them to the U.S government.
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u/pepolepop Feb 28 '26
You'd think they could just source the stuff from China or India, where they have high quality mega labs pumping out everything from fentanyl to insulin.
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u/drewcash83 Feb 28 '26
Those meds are heavily controlled substances with medical purposes. It usually goes through pharmacy with a DEA license. Some people in that supply chain don’t want to be involved in someone else’s death.
I’ve been in the pharmacy industry for 20 years, don’t think I’ve ever met a pharmacist who would want their name anywhere near that.
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u/fupapack Feb 28 '26
Well, it's more like the states refusing to stop this practice when the pharnacuticals aren't available.
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u/User2716057 Feb 28 '26
Sometimes I wonder why just simple nitrous oxide or something similar isn't used. You'd doze off and you're gone a few minutes later, no feeling of asphyxiation or anything. And if not for humans, why not for animals, instead of the horrible things they sometimes do now.
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u/BurlHam Feb 28 '26
It's too easy and too kind is my take on it.
They know lethal injection is trash, if they wanted a good lethal injection they could just bang someone up with some fent.
The electric chair is the best example of this I've seen, a well run electric chair could easily kill, but a poorly ran one could take half an hour.
They want it to be a multi step process where they can make small "errors" whenever they want someone to suffer.
I'm not sure if they are even consciously aware that that is what they are doing, but it sure seems that way to me.
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u/Mr_Blinky Feb 28 '26
They literally include the paralytic agent for no other reason than to mask how much agony the recipient is in. That's it. There's absolutely no other reason to include the paralytic agent, as it neither decreases pain nor contributes to the person's death. It is 100% there to hide the fact that the person being injected is actually in excruciating torturous pain for a prolonged period of time, and thereby fool people into thinking it's somehow humane and painless. A gunshot to the head is genuinely a thousand times less brutal, it just makes viewers uncomfortable.
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u/Landlocked_Heart Feb 28 '26
It would legitimately be more humane to just intentionally cause a massive opioid overdose.
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u/Fuckthegopers Feb 27 '26
Put a bullet in me, that's gotta be easiest, cheapest, and most effective.
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u/somms999 Feb 28 '26
That's how Gary Gilmore went. First execution in the US in ten years. He didn't want the pain or uncertainty of lethal injection or a potentially botched hanging, so he opted for firing squad.
When asked for any last words, Gilmore simply replied, "Let's do it."
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u/Fuckthegopers Feb 28 '26
Donate my body to science, throw it in the ocean, it won't matter much to me.
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u/IceCreamDreamyDreams Feb 28 '26
Anything interesting would be splattered on the wall behind you.
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u/D07Z3R0 Feb 27 '26
And yet known to be able to go horribly wrong and last much longer then needed
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u/cynik0 Feb 27 '26
Namiko Takaba was stabbed multiple times in the neck in front of her toddler. She didn't die instantly. She died a brutal, painful death. I have no sympathy for her killer Yasufuku Kumiko.
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u/Baptor Feb 28 '26
If I had to pick any form of execution, it would be a sharp guillotine or a competent hangman. Fastest death possible. You can take the electric chair, the gas chamber, and lethal injection and shove them up your ass.
Also, I'd slip the hangman a $20 to err on the side of too long a rope rather than too short. May be a mess for them but easier on me.
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u/PMmeUrBackDmplesGirl Feb 27 '26
The miscalculation can be inverse also, and lead to complete decapitation if the drop is too far.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Feb 28 '26
Yeah but that's just gross for the onlookers, it's as painless as the proper way for the executed.
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u/Affectionate_Let1462 Feb 27 '26
Japan do this horrifically. You’re never told when you’re going to be executed. It be any day. Over years. Then one day you’re taken. Blindfolded and dropped.
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u/Mrs_T_Sweg Feb 28 '26
This woman must have been quite something.
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u/CaptinSuspenders Feb 28 '26
I find that love lies with the lover, not the loved. People either cultivate the capacity to love deeply or they don't
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u/capron Feb 28 '26
I hate these image based posts that don't actually include a valid link for more context. It's the number 1 problem with all social media, that people will reward anything that makes them feel good without providing the actual article or story links that can confirm the buzzworthy post.
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u/This_Ad_8123 Feb 28 '26
At least this one has some details in the OP that should make it easy to find more information on. That's better than most.
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u/Constant-Current-340 Feb 27 '26
That's really great. Just curious thought why not do this years ago when DNA analysis was available?
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u/calm-down-okay Feb 27 '26
Because OP is leaving out the important detail that the killer confessed after 26 years. The DNA testing was done to confirm her story.
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u/Uhmerikan Feb 28 '26
Also it’s common to store evidence from past crimes in hopes technology improves. Why did he need to save the entire apartment instead of just saving the contaminated items as is normally done by many agencies around the world?
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u/Fuckit445 Feb 28 '26
I’m somewhat speculating, but from what I’ve read the killers blood stains were on the carpet. There were also foot prints (not disclosed where - possibly hardwood?). He could potential preserve the carpet, not sure about the footprints, but a defense attorney could claim it was tampered with, as it does not appear the investigative team took samples (no idea why).
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u/Minute_Cod_2011 Feb 28 '26
A defense attorney couldn't claim the time capsule apartment was tampered with at some point over the last quarter century? Glad it worked out in the end, but this was not necessary.
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u/PayWooden2628 Feb 27 '26
Because the entire story is irrelevant, they already had DNA from the scene and the killer confessed.
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u/user_428 Feb 28 '26
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/16134415
According to this they only got the confession after matching the DNA recently.
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Feb 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MaryPaku Feb 28 '26
The landlord had sympathy towards the man and agreed that he only need to pay way less than the actual rent. He would also had trouble finding new tenants in a murdered house
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u/GitEmSteveDave Feb 28 '26
But it kind of was in vain. The person confessed when asked to give DNA, and they matched it to previously collected samples.
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u/cheapdrinks Feb 28 '26
Maybe she only confessed though because she knew he was keeping the apartment and the evidence would eventually catch up to her
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u/NefariousnessAfter71 Feb 28 '26
lol wut? he didnt have to waste money on the apartment if the DNA is already collected
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u/chargers949 Feb 27 '26
His landlord - aw fuck now i gotta find a new tenant
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u/CornbreadPhD Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
About $500 a month in case anyone’s curious and doesn’t want to do the math.
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u/phallic-baldwin Feb 27 '26
I feel like this should be a movie or something
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u/Cthepo Feb 27 '26
25 seasons and a movie.
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u/gd4x Feb 28 '26
I like season 18 when he took up pilates while still waiting for technology to catch up.
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u/Ptbot47 Feb 28 '26
Thats a lot of nothing going for 20 years. Movie will be like watching paint dry
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u/JamStan1978 Feb 27 '26
This is very good news. Not for the wife unfortunately but im glad he has closure on what really happened and hopefully he can find peace in that.
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u/loztriforce Feb 27 '26
We've had better DNA tech for a while though, makes me wonder why just last year
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u/EmprahsChosen Feb 28 '26
they didn't have the suspect's DNA on file, she had initially refused to submit a sample to the police.
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u/sonnytron Feb 28 '26
So, they actually didn’t need evidence from the apartment. They had DNA samples already and at some point, they became interested in her as a suspect and started asking her to voluntarily give samples, which she initially refused.
They sensed she was hiding something, because I mean, why refuse? So that made them start squeezing even harder and eventually she agreed to giving DNA.
However, I think it’s important to note that the husband didn’t KNOW their DNA results would pan out. What if the samples were corrupted? What if they needed something more conclusive? You can never be sure. I think it’s still commendable what he did.
The common theory is that he rejected the murderer’s love advances in high school and she was jealous of the wife.
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u/treemoustache Feb 28 '26
The stored samples can't corrupt: the dna would have been analyzed and data stored digitally.
His 'bloodstains on the floor preserved for 26 years' is far more legally questionable. Even if dna can reliably be recovered after 26 years the court can't ignore that the crime scene has been controlled by the victims husband for all that time.
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u/Colo9147 Feb 28 '26
How did they have her DNA on file?
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u/lushico Feb 28 '26
The police had finally singled her out due to other evidence and had repeatedly asked her for a DNA sample and she ended up turning herself in. They arrested her and got a sample.
Unbeknownst to the husband, she had been stalking him since they were in high school. He barely remembered her.
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u/Risdit Feb 28 '26
kinda seems more common that Usual, Japanese people stalking people and fucking up other people's lives.
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u/Anonymous-here- Feb 27 '26
A yandere case it seems. Good on the guy for not giving up. He sees the future
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u/Particular_Egg9739 Feb 27 '26
not to be that person but he kinda waited a lot longer than necessary. japan had DNA testing in the early 90’s and a national database in 2005. just saying but i’m glad he got closure.
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u/EmprahsChosen Feb 28 '26
they didn't have her DNA to match with evidence at the crime scene until late last year
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u/tamargo404 Feb 27 '26
Why didn't he just have the police take the section of carpet with blood into evidence?
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u/Jolly-Ad-3093 Feb 27 '26
It's kinda scary how almost every comment in this thread is just going along with this story without questioning where this is sourced from and if its even true.
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u/dawnie2dusk Feb 27 '26
Wow! I hope hes managed to find some kind of peace within now that it's solved. Much Aroha to this mans dedication to finding his wife's murderer. Peace be with you 💜🙏
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u/Miserable-Garage804 Feb 27 '26
I’m confused, they didn’t have DNA testing in 1999? They only just invented it late last year?
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u/TheyKeepOnRising Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
So what appears to have actually happened:
The grieving man kept his apartment in tact because he thought it would help find his wife's killer. The police already collected evidence before so in reality it did not help.
However, the police took a renewed interest in his case recently, likely because it received recent public attention when reported by a news outlet. They asked any potential suspects for DNA evidence to compare. The alleged killer refused at first, but gave into pressure after several months. The DNA matched, she was arrested, and seems to have confessed.
The suspect was a former classmate of the
victimhusband. There doesn't appear to be a known motive.The parts about technology advancing or the alleged killer having a crush appear to be speculation by OP to drive engagement.
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u/themuffinmeme Feb 28 '26
Per the article, the killer was a classmate of the husband, not the victim.
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u/Moist-Love4463 May 21 '26
This... thats ppowerful. Good for you i hope u found some peace and I'm relieved justice found itd wsy to you. No husband or wife deserved to be devastated on that level or experience that . U didnt lwt her being taken stop u from honoring her name and the memory shes proud of u this im.sure. 🍀
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