Japanese Man pays rent for an Empty Flat for 26 Years to unearth his Wife’s Murder.

A grieving husband in Japan has paid rent for 26 years on the empty “haunted house” in which his wife was murdered in the hope of uncovering clues about who killed her. 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.

The murder was committed on November 13th 1999, when housewife Namiko Takaba was found dead at home. She had been stabbed in the neck with a sharp object multiple times. Her 2 years old son was left uninjured by her side.

The authorities had deployed 100,000 police officers on the case and 5,000 people were interviewed to no avail. The only clues investigators unearthed were that the suspect was a female with type B blood, she was about 1.6m tall and had been wearing shoes 24 centimetres in length.

The police also issued a reward in their hunt for the killer. The husband Satoru Takaba was steadfast in his determination of unveiling the crime plot. In the hope of preserving the crime scene, Satoru had vacated the property empty for the past 26 years. He and his son lived elsewhere. Takaba never remarried. The total amount of rent he paid for the empty flat over that period was 22 million yen (US$145,000).

He left every item in the house and did not clean the bloodstains because he was waiting for a breakthrough in the investigation, he told the media. Also, he often distributed fliers on the street and accepted media interviews to call on the public to provide clues. Last year, the police reopened the investigation and refocused their probe on people related to the family. This year on October 30th, 69 years old Kumiko Yasufuku surrendered to the police, thereby admitting her guilt, as she had a crush on her old mate Satoru Takaba.

Yasufuku had been interviewed previously but refused to provide a blood sample for a DNA test. Police said DNA extracted from blood left at the murder scene matched hers and she was arrested on suspicion of murder.

“For the past two decades, I have been worried every day. I dared not watch news reports about this case. I felt anxious and depressed on November 13 every year”, Yasufuku told the police. “I did not want to be arrested since I did not want to bring trouble to my family. But when the police contacted me in August, I was ready for the arrest. I would like to apologise to Namiko”, she said. Takaba said he was surprised to hear the name of the suspect.

“I never expected it was her. I thought the murderer would have left Nagoya, but it turned out that she has always been living near my rented house”, he was quoted as saying. The killer, who was a classmate of Takaba at secondary school, once sent him Valentine’s Day chocolates and a letter expressing her affection, but he rejected her.

The pair had not been in touch with each other after graduation and had only met once after that, a year before the crime. “She told me she had got married but still had to work. She said she was exhausted from work”, said Takaba. “She did not harass us before the crime. So, I thought it could not be her”, he added.

Neighbours had told the police they heard quarrels from the victim’s house before the crime. Takaba said his friends congratulated him after the suspect was arrested. “So, paying rent for the house for so many years has been worthwhile. It is surprising that the murderer is someone I know. I am so sorry for Namiko”, he said.

Team Maverick