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Namiko Takaba · Justice For

• justice for: 26 years. It's amazing how much life can fit into 26 years. A child born today would become an adult. They learn to walk, start school, graduate, fall in love, begin a career, and maybe even become a parent themselves, of maybe more than one kid. We know plenty of them. The world itself would change. Technology would evolve. 26 years is long enough for an entire generation to grow up. It's long enough for people to forget. We often hear the phrase time heals all wounds. I've never been sure that's entirely true. I think time changes us. It teaches us how to carry things we never expected to carry. It teaches us how to keep living while holding on to people we've lost, the questions that remain unanswered, and the hope that somehow tomorrow might look different than it does today. Because sometimes the things worth waiting for don't arrive in weeks or in months. Sometimes they take years. Sometimes they take decades. And sometimes they take twenty-six years. Welcome back to another episode of Justice Four. We are your host. I'm Jackie. And I'm Sam. Ooh. It's gonna be good. I know. It's gonna be a good one, you guys. Really quick before I jump into this shameless plug. Please, please, please go follow us on all of our socials Facebook, Instagram, Spo Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, everywhere that you can listen to us. Please, and that you can find us on social media. we're even on Twitter, even though I don't do anything on there. I don't understand Twitter. If someone knows how to do Twitter, feel free to do it for us. Please. Please. Check out our website. It has all of our merch, has resources, all of our episodes, along with all the pictures. so does our Facebook discussion post. It also has all the pictures as well. So if you're only listening, go ahead and check those out definitely. Absolutely. You can also submit a case to us on our website. We have a few s case submissions already. there's just a handful of them we can't touch yet. Yes. And we are working on other ones. Just sometimes it's a lot to digest and get into and we want to do it right for y'all. Exactly. Exactly. So you You're there. We see you. We see it. We feel it. We've been looking. We just need a little bit of time. Yeah. Yeah. Another quick shout out to Shadow Cards over in the UK. If you like trading game cards, they are over in the UK. they actually just had a benefit stream really to support men's mental health, which was really cool. Well, that's super awesome. I didn't buy anything. I'm not really into cards. Sorry, but I was able to donate to help. Like and I love reading. Yeah, it's pretty cool. So we love you guys. Please keep listening. We always got you back. I am so ready for this. She w you guys know we look at pictures before yes, or we show each other pictures before we start this episode. and sometimes we show each other pictures with zero context because that's more fun. Yeah. or we leave out names, or we say, you can't see this picture yet. Yeah. And halfway through her showing me pictures, I figured out what case this is. I know nothing about it. I know the biggest thing she said is twenty six years. Yeah. I I know what that is referencing. I am so excited. I wish we had on camera how excited I just got. I'm y'all, I am sat. I am ready. I am you guys are gonna love this so much. This is so exciting. Yeah. Okay, just do it. All right, all right. So on November thirteenth, nineteen ninety nine, at approximately sorry, I'm parting like it's nineteen ninety nine, real quick. Okay. Okay. At approximately two thirty PM, the body of thirty-two year old Namiko Tabaka was discovered inside her apartment in Nago Nagoya, Japan. First and foremost, before I continue on, I'm very sorry if I pronounce anything wrong. I'm so glad you're doing this episode and not me, 'cause quit Spain. Yeah. Yeah. there's a lot of names in here and everything that I listened to on it was generally people who had An act like a Japanese accent and I'm not going to do that. that's not who I am. but also I'm sorry. I'm doing my best. Me and her are both very phonetic. we are we are true English American speakers. Yeah. we pronounce every single letter and syllable, even when it doesn't need to be. So we apologize. We tried very hard to use Google pronunciations and stuff like that. But still still doesn't do it. Anyway. The body of thirty two year old Namiko Takaba was discovered inside of her apartment in Nagoya, Japan by her landlord and his wife. We're finally in Japan. I know that's a new one. This is a new one. Also what is up with you starting cases off lately with exactly what happened? You're welcome. Thank you I'm trying to change it up a little bit. So the landlord and his wife, the couple stopped by to deliver fresh produce from their garden after unsuccessfully trying to reach Namico by phone. that's so sweet. Mm-hmm. When they entered the apartment, they found Namiko lying on the floor between the hallway and the living room. Her legs extended into the hallway while her upper body rested inside the living room. She had suffered catastrophic injuries to her neck, with some reports stating that had been it had been severely severed. during the attack. Okay. Blood had pulled around her body and trails of blood ended up stretching throughout the hallway with additional droplets found near the apartment's entrance. Okay. The landlord and his wife immediately called emergency services. Paramedics arrived quickly, but they were unable to save her. And they Well with her head being described in some places as being almost severed, I would I yeah. So they ultimately pronounced Namiko dead at the scene. Authorities then contacted her husband named Satoru Tob Kaba. Sorry. Satoru Takaba, informing him that his wife had died. Initially he was at work. Okay. I go into more detail. I'm getting as a small You're just you're just giving us the overview real quick before we break it down. He was led to believe she had suffered some kind of medical emergency and nothing prepared him for the devastating reality that was actually waiting at home. When investigators began processing the crime scene, they made a heartbreaking discovery. Silently sitting in the kitchen was their two-year-old son, Kohei. no. Although he had not been physically harmed, investigators believed he had been inside the apartment during the attack and may have even heard, possibly seen the assault on his mother. no. Mm-hmm. Shortly after Satoru arrived, Investigators prevented him from entering the apartment while the scene was still being processed. Only after the initial examination was complete did paramedics take him aside and finally tell him the truth that his wife had been brutally murdered. The crime immediately puzzled investigators. There was nothing about the family that suggested they would become the target of such a total devastating fucking attack. So Let me give you a little bit more information. Yeah. So he was forty-three and he worked as a real estate agent. Okay. While Namika was thirty-two and she spent much like the majority of her time taking care of their son, who was two at the time. Okay. Friends and neighbors consistently described them as happy, quiet, beautiful family who were just those kind of people who you wanted to be around. But they also kept to themselves. Okay. Investigators found no indication that the couple had ongoing disputes or enemies at all, making it difficult to understand who would want to harm them and why. So story not a suspect. 'Cause he was at work? Husband is not a suspect. Okay. Correct, correct. So I know I just threw a lot of fucking information at you guys, all right? Yes. And I'm just I don't know, I'm kinda stuck on their two year old because like Was he like sitting in the kitchen the whole time and the landlord and his wife just missed him and he was just silently traumatized sitting there because he didn't know what else to do? Or like Well, I I'm pretty sure they opened the door and saw her and was like, Nope. Okay, so didn't like go inside and stuff like that. Correct. Okay. Correct. So now that I've thrown all this information at you, let me break some stuff down for you guys, okay? I couldn't find a lot of background information before the murder occurred on both Namiko and Saturo. But I'm kinda surprised about that from like what I already know. Yeah. What I do have though is how they met. Okay, that'll do. That'll do. So, like many couples, their story began at work, Jackie. They met while working together at a real estate agency. They fell in love and eventually they got married. And by 1999, they had been husband and wife for about four years and were raising their two-year-old son together. They had recently signed a contract on a new condominium, and they were actually looking forward to expanding their family. They were talking about having another child and They were just believing they had all of these decades ahead of them. Yeah, they were just young and very early in their marriage and raising their kids and starting their family and Absolutely. So the morning nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Everything seemed fine. So their son, Kohei, had been feeling ill since the previous day. So Namiko planned to take him to the hospital after dropping her husband off at work. Like countless families, they spent the beginning of their Saturday focused on everyday responsibilities, taking him to work. They only had one car. Going to the hospital with her son 'cause he So she dropped him off at work with her son and then they were supposed to go to the hospital. Yes. Okay. And the visit at the hospital appeared completely routine and shortly afterward her and Kohei went home. Okay. Neighbors later recalled hearing a television playing inside the apartment around the time that they returned home. It was an ordinary sound that just blends into the background of apartment life. Well yeah, you have a toddler going on, so Yeah, and you know, we got some Arthur playing Prop Door of the Explorer. Probably, but maybe. yeah, I forgot we're in Japan, not in Japan. Yeah, in Japan. Dragon Tails though, maybe. Maybe, maybe. 1999. Dragon Tails, yeah. I was watching that. I was be bopping on that. Maybe Arthur. I'm thinking maybe it's in Pokemon. I don't know if they Pokemon. Yeah. I don't know if they had PBS over there. I think that might have just been us, so never mind on the Arthur. Dude, I fucked with Arthur. I loved Arthur. I loved Arthur. Investigators would later say that sometime between noon and one p.m., but most likely around twelve thirty p.m., someone did try calling Namiko. Okay. Multiple times, but did not get a call or didn't answer. Yeah, she didn't pick up. Yes. And then several residents also reported hearing unusual noises coming from the unit around that time as well. Okay. One neighbor described hearing what sounded like an argument or possibly furniture being dragged across the floor. So are they like in an apartment? Like town like we're sharing walls with our neighbors, correct? It is an apartment. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So one neighbor described hearing what sounded like an argument or possibly furniture being dragged across the floor. They said like a large closet being sounded, or sounded like being dragged across the floor. Like a wardrobe or something. Yes. Yes. Another resident neighbor remembered hearing a loud crashing noise, followed by footsteps rapidly descending the apartment stairs. At the time, no one believed they were hearing a violent crime happening. Apartment buildings are often filled with unfamiliar sounds. I hear fucking everything going on upstairs. Yeah. But nothing about the noises that were being heard seemed alarming enough to prompt anyone to call the cops. I think it I wanna know the psychiatry behind this. Like if anyone knows, tell me. I feel like there's something in our brain that will convince us of normal things. things instead of like the worst things. So like even if we're like that sounds like someone being murdered, our brain's like, someone's just excited or someone's doing you know what I mean? Well and then there's me who's fucked up in the head. Every time I hear a crash, I'm like, who died? Yeah. Or if like I had a neighbor who would like have this alarm that I think that he didn't set like turn off his second one. And so like you would just hear the alarm going off. And I was like, what if you're just like dead and your alarm's going off and I'm just annoyed down here because your alarm's going off, but you're dead and I should have known. I get it. Why are we like this? I sh Beats me, man. Beats me. At approximately two thirty PM is when the apartment's landlord the apartment's landlord and his wife arrived carrying the fresh vegetables from their garden. Okay. The landlord's wife had actually attempted to call ahead, like I said before, with no response. Assuming she was just simply busy with her young son, they decided to stop by anyway. They rang the doorbell, they knocked, No answer. Listen, I'm sorry, I thought Japan was a very manner and courteous country. when I have a toddler and I have not answered the phone, why are we knocking and ringing my doorbell? We could be sleeping. This is like this is like ringing a doorbell with a newborn. I mean I'm glad they did, but still. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, finally the landlord's wife just decided to try her doorknob. And it was unlocked. And I love this. I feel like this goes against everything that we know culturally about Japan. But at the same time, like thank you for being a nosy landlord. Thank you for being like this is my building. Thank you. Well also, I was a property manager for a long time and like I don't care how close you are with someone, like you don't I'm also wondering if they had more of a personal relationship than that. And like to them, they thought that it was weird since they are normally home and she has the two year old and no one's answering. And I'm wondering if there was just that silence on the other side that isn't usually there with having a two-year-old or whatever they were doing that the landlord, like, you know, you have a gut feeling. Yes. You know what I mean? And also maybe she wasn't a napper during the day. You know, maybe she liked to clean and do stuff while her son was napping. So you never know. There's just but you know what? This is the one time I'll be like, get it, nosy landlord. Yeah. Get in. And I guarantee she probably did have that gut feeling, like, no, it's something too quiet. Yeah. We're going inside. So when she stepped inside, she immediately found Namiko lying motionless on the floor. When police and paramedic entered the apartment, they found evidence of a violent, violent struggle. Well if her head's just about severed. Yeah. Namika was lying face down between the hallway and the living room, like I said. Her body position suggested that she had collapsed while attempting to flee or after desperately trying to s survive the attack. wow. She had suffered multiple deep wounds to her neck inflicted by a sharp edged weapon, I'm assuming a knife. I will explain. Why later. Some reports describe the injuries as so severe that her neck had been completely severed, like I said. Investigators also documented numerous defensive wounds on her hands and arms, indicating that she fought the fuck back. Well, yeah, with her two-year-old being inside the house, whether the person who came in knew that or not. Yeah. Yep, yep. The official cause of death was determined to be massive blood loss. Okay. Not not the like she she suffered. Blood had pulled around her body before flowing through portions of the hallway. Additional blood droplets were found near the apartment entrance, creating a trail that would later become one of the investigation's most important pieces of evidence. Okay. so it actually trailed from the I think I speak on this a little bit later, but the blood trailed to the bedroom and the bathroom and out the entrance of the apartment, down the stairs, through the parking lot and away. Okay. Two questions. One, it's all one trail of blood. It's not like her trail is getting mixed with the killer's trail that went out the apartment. It's all the killer's trail. Okay. That was I just wanted to make sure that we weren't tracking her steps, like her trying to like No ma'am. Let me find the phone. No. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No. So and like I said though, perhaps the most heartbreaking discovery came moments later when inside the kitchen sat two year old Kohei. Physically. they didn't say. Okay. But they're They were in the middle of lunch. Okay. I was gonna say he was either napping 'cause he was sick and when they came from the hospital or I was gonna say they were eating lunch. They were having lunch. Okay. Yes. I'll tell you that's a good chance he was still in a high chair. Probably. Probably just to make it easy and less messy and mm-hmm. Whether he witnessed the assault or simply heard it has never actually been determined publicly, but investigators believe he was present while his mother was being murdered there. That's crazy. That's Yeah. Yes. that's awful. For Satoru, the tragedy unfolded in a matter of minutes. he was devastated. He was distraught. Yeah. And thankfully he got their son and was able to be with him and find out it was not both of them. Yeah. So that's good. Almost immediately, detectives realized the crime scene made very fucking little sense. There was no evidence that the apartment had been ransacked or anything had been stolen. Many valuable belongings still remained inside the home. This quickly led investigators to conclude that robbery was unlikely to have been the motive. Instead, the apartment looked as though someone's it was just an ordinary afternoon. Like someone just walked in, killed her, and walked out? Ultimately, yeah. The television was still on and was actually turned to one of Namiko's favorite television dramas. Okay. One of her soaps, probably. On the table sat a cup of instant ramen still soaking in hot water, suggesting that lunch had not been finished. Nearby was a bowl containing leftover miso soup that was Kohe's breakfast. Standing near the apartment entrance was also a vacuum cleaner, so investigators believed that Namiko had likely been cleaning when someone knocked on her door. Those like seemingly insignificant details helped detectives reconstruct the final moments before the attack. Nothing suggested that she expected danger in any moment. Instead, they believed she willingly opened the door to the person who ultimately killed her. So are we thinking it's someone she knew or was familiar with? Mm-hmm. So there was also the absence of any type of forced entry. So that's opened the door. That she opened the door for this person. It appeared that she had either recognized the visitor or had no reason to view them as a threat. As investigators continued processing the apartment, they quickly realized that the killer made several critical mistakes. Bloodstains found inside the apartment. Did not belong to just Namiko. Investigators believed that Namiko managed to wound her attacker during the struggle, leaving behind blood that was later determined to be type B blood. Okay. years later, with advances in DNA, testing would also reveal that the blood belonged to a woman. What? What? It was a woman? It was a woman. This is a really violent attack for a woman. This is not a woman. I know. What? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So They also recovered bloody shoe impressions near the apartment entrance and close to her body, which is what the picture that she saw that was like, I know this. Well, it I'll tell you when I realize. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The impressions were identified as coming from a pair of Korean made woman's shoes, approximately size eight, and it had a heel. The evidence suggested that the killer had walked through Namiko's blood and before leaving the apartment as well. Okay. The drops of blood I was telling you about were discovered in the hallway on the stairwell throughout the entire apartment parking lot and eventually along a route leading towards Eno Park, which is approximately five hundred meters away, which is like one third of a mile. Okay. Away from the apartment. Like she walked that far? Mm-hmm. And we're bleeding. Mm-hmm. Okay, so we're not just the blood dripping isn't just from the murder or isn't from the murder weapons from them. Mm-hmm. Inside the apartment bathroom, investigators found blood in the sink. Leading them to believe the attacker paused to wash their hands before leaving. And tried to clean up whatever they were what blood they were ever bleeding to. Even after washing, however, they continued to leave blood behind as they escaped, whether it was from the Weapon? I don't know, but I'm about to talk about this in a second. Here hold on, hold on to that thought. The evidence suggested the attacker had sustained significant injury during the struggle. and I don't know if it was caused from Namiko directly or if her hand slipped on the knife, cutting her hand with the knife. As they expanded their search beyond the apartment, the evidence began painting a picture of someone who left the scene in a hurry, despite attempting to wash blood from their hands. The attacker continued bleeding as they fled. There were also witnesses in the area who would later provide investigators with two potential significant sightings. Are you serious? Mm-hmm. One witness reported seeing a woman wearing a pink top walking through the area shortly after the estimated time of the murder. And another describes seeing a woman dressed in black standing near the ride outside of Eno Park. According to that witness, the woman appeared to be clutching one of her hands as she had been injured and seemed to be waiting for a passing vehicle to stop. Although the clothing descriptions differed, investigators believe the physical descriptions of the women were similar enough that both witnesses may have seen the same individual. Okay. as investigators went to Eno Park, they located additional traces of blood near a water source at the park. They didn't say what kind of water source or I couldn't find something that translated it well enough. Gotcha, gotcha. So that suggests she once again attempted to wash away the blood on her entry. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And then didn't happen, so she continued going north. Near Towards a residential neighborhood. Interesting. Mm-hmm. One question that immediately puzzled the investigators, though. If the attacker had walked through the neighborhood in broad daylight while bleeding and most likely covered in blood, why hadn't more people noticed? Yeah. that doesn't make sense. How was there not more people? I'm very in I am so confused right now. And I genuinely wonder if maybe she did have on like a jacket or something, like the black jacket, and took it off and she was wearing a pink shirt underneath. Or vice versa. Like she she took the coat off. Yeah. Did the wear and then put the coat back on. Or she found a coat. Yes. I have a feeling though if she was wearing pink you'd see blood stains more. Yes. Whereas if you're wearing black you won't see as many bloodstains and can take that off. Yeah. So I don't Yeah. Unfortunately though, they never received a clear answer on why no more people didn't see this woman. I mean also it is the middle of the day. Yeah. And people are working. So yes, you're walking through a residential neighborhood, but how many people are home during the day in a residential neighborhood? It was also a Saturday. yeah. I I was just about to I as I was saying that I was remembering it was a Saturday. The thing is though, I also don't know That makes it how weird's work week goes compared to ours. This is true. There's unfortunately a lot of like cultural differences between here and there that we aren't sure of. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. I don't know. I mean, yeah, we gotta we gotta not look through it through the scope of being an American and like what goes on and stuff. So But also at the same time, if you think about how many people are in Japan, they are very good at minding their own damn business there. They are, but also at the same time for the neighbors to remember like the normal sounds that were going on and sounds that were different. Among the many pieces of evidence that were collected at the apartment, one object stood out because it just simply did not belong there. On the apartment's doorknob is Investigators found residue from a probiotic beverage similar to I'm gonna say this wrong, Yukolt. I have a picture of it here. It'll also be posted everywhere else. There's no way you haven't seen this somewhere because I see it constantly. We see it everywhere. Yeah. I want to get it. Like I knew exactly what it was when she showed it to me. Yes, absolutely. Inside the kitchen, they then discovered a partially consumed bottle of the same drink sitting on the table near where Kohei had been found. When question I'm sorry, when detectives questioned Satoru, they learned something very important. They never drank that brand of. of a beverage ever. Okay. So the bottle had most certainly been brought into the apartment by someone else. Investigators traced the product's serial information and determined it had been sold in the Nish Nishimikawa region. All right. Which was approximately twenty one miles from the crime scene. Although the bottle never directly identified the killer, it helped investigators develop one of the most widely accepted theories in this case. Okay. That she may have disguised herself as a door-to-door salesperson. Which is actually extremely common to have in Japan, making it entirely plausible that Namika would have answered the door without suspicion at all. So like a schwanz or a royal crest or something like that. Yeah. Okay. Mhm. If that theory is correct, the murder was Absolutely certain to be premeditated. On paper, investigators appeared to have everything they needed. They had biological evidence believed to belong to the killer. They had shoe impress impressions, witness sightings, a trail of blood leading away from the crime scene. And they had a suspicious beverage that appeared to have been brought by the attacker. Yet, despite all of the evidence, the investigations soon began encountering major obstacles. I don't know how, though. One of the earliest sets setbacks came the very night of the murder. According to reports, police temporarily suspended the use of tracking dogs after tensions with members of the media escalated. What? Uh-huh. Journalists had aggressively pursued coverage of the case, and investigators expressed concern that media activity around the apartment and surrounding neighborhood could interfere with the investigation, further traumatizing the Takaba family. So basically, they couldn't have dogs out. Because there was too many people around. Because there was too many journalists around. Yeah. Listen. Mm-hmm. It is nineteen ninety nine. Yeah. Japan. They had the jump on us on the true gr This is after OJ. They saw the potential. They saw the media potential and they took it. Yeah. That's crazy. I would have never expected the media to be so swarmed. In ninety-nine? Like that's crazy. That was not one of the things that I thought was happening. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so we couldn't use dogs because of that. Mm-hmm. Also, later that evening, a very heavy rain swept through the area. no. Unfortunately. The rainfall washed away all of the remaining blood trail investigators hoped to follow and destroyed additional footprints that may have been provided that may have provided more information about the suspect's movement. They didn't already Take pictures of all of this as they followed it? They did, but it's within hours of them finding it. it rain it rained in the middle of them doing that. Not like as they were like, okay. Yep. that sucks. They were still following the trail when it started raining. Yes. And it washed away. Any type of trail. Mm-hmm. Despite these setbacks though, the investigation remained one of the largest in the region. Over the years, approximately a hundred thousand police officers participated in various aspects of the investigation. Holy crap. And detectives interviewed more than 5,000 people. Are you serious? Yes. my god, I think that is the new record for our podcast on how many got investigated and how many officers there were. Holy crap. Japan detective were they don't fucking play around. No they don't. No, they don't. Every promising lead was pursued. Every potential witness was interviewed. And still investigators were unable to identify the person responsible. Well, I guess this kind of answers the question of a lot of the cold cases we talked about. Could there have been more done? Yes, but would it have mattered? Apparently not sometimes. So you know what? Maybe we do go a little bit too hard on some of these old investigations where like Japan can interview 5,000 people and have 130,000 people. 100,000 police officers work on it and still not get anywhere. For what I'm gonna go back to I'm I'm gonna assume for what, 26 years, because we Only said 26 years 15 million times on here. Yeah, so far. Okay, so I'm gonna say it a few more times. Okay. As the years passed, investigators explored numerous theories in an attempt to explain what happened. Initially, detectives considered whether the attack had been motivated by robbery. That was quickly dismissed when everything was still fucking there. Nothing appeared to be stolen, there was no signs of anything being like ransacked and searched, so the next possibility was that the crime had been motivated motivated by a personal grudge against either Namiko or Satoru. Investigators carefully examined the couple's personal relationships, employment history, friendships, and their daily routines. Unfortunately, nothing suspicious emerged. Friends and neighbors consistently described the Takabas as thoughtful, kind, and really well-liked people. One investigator reportedly summarized the challenge by saying, quote, There was no couple less hated. End quote. I am so stumped. Like there's more. With no evidence supporting a robbery or personal dispute, investigators began considering other possibilities. Had the killer just come to the wrong apartment? Okay. At the same time of the murder, another family living nearby had a surname written using the same Japanese like characters as Takaba. So Japanese names can share identical written characters while being pronounced differently. Okay. Detectives wondered whether the attacker the attacker had mistaken the residence. The nameplate for the other one. Okay. So it's an intriguing theory and it could be possible. Was there anything on that family that would lead to something? Unfortunately. I knew it. Despite consider re considerable investigation, detectives found no evidence confirming that the murder had been the result of mistaken identity. Like every other theory, it keeps reaching a dead end. And the years continued passing. But the investigation remained active, but no suspect was identified. For many people, the case slowly faded from public attention. Except for one man, it never did. Following Namiko's murder, Satoru and Kohei moved into his parents' home in another part of Nagoya. Okay. The decision completely understandable. yeah. Returning to the apartment where his wife had been murdered would have been emotionally unbearable for almost anyone. Yeah. Yet despite moving out, he made the decision that would eventually become one of the defining aspects of this case. He kept paying rent for this apartment for more than 26 years. That's wild. Mm-hmm. Many people assumed he simply couldn't bear to leave the apartment behind. The truth, however, was much more profound. The apartment was not simply a place where he had lost his wife, it was the place where he believed justice was still waiting to be found. As months turned into years and years slowly becoming decades, the apartment where Namigo had been murdered remained almost exactly as investigators had left it. And to many people that sounds impossible. Most crime scenes don't survive beyond a few days. Once investigators complete their work, families are left with the painful task of deciding what comes next. It's one of the cruel realities that follows tragedy, unfortunately. Life continues even when the people left behind feel as though theirs has stopped. But it was different here. Rather than terminating the lease, Satoru continued paying rent month after month after month, and he wanted to preserve the apartment. Well, and now that We I know how the landlords were. I completely understand how this happened. I need y'all to know that when she was showing me pictures and she goes to a picture and she goes, and this is what Satoru S Satoru? Satoru. Satoru pointing to a blood stain. I went, I've I have seen the headlines. I've seen this lately. I never read any further into it, but like Yes. I can't believe he did that. That's Yeah. This apartment is the longest preserved private crime scene in Japan. The apartment has wait, there's other places that have crime scenes preserved like this? Yeah. damn, I did not know that. remained exactly how Namiko le had left it on the day she died. The calendar still displayed November of 1999. Her CD collection remained neatly arranged where she had left it, furniture stayed exactly in place. Essentially nothing changed. Frozen in time. That's exactly what was said multiple times. And Satoru would visit the apartment twice every single week. Okay. Even more than twenty years after the murder, he continued unlocking the same front door, walking through the same rooms, and standing in the place where his entire life had changed. He later explained that every visit felt as though time had stopped. Yeah. For him, the apartment wasn't simply a reminder of loss. It was where he remembered where she lived. It was hope. It was where their family had been happy. And most importantly, it is where he believed the truth still remained. When they asked him why he never let the apartment go, he gave a remarkably practical answer. Quote, I thought it might still contain evidence that could be useful. Namiko's blood is here, but so is the attacker's. End quote. Rather than seeing the apartment as something that trapped him in grief, he viewed it as a place of evidence that still had purpose. Every rent payment became another investment in hope. there was also a report that the landlord ended up lowering the rent when he realized why he was keeping it. I love that. All together, Saturo. paid around a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in rent over the last twenty-six years. That's crazy. Every month that he kept the apartment intact was another month that future investigators might be able to benefit from the advances in forensic science that did not yet exist. Looking back now, knowing what eventually happened, it's difficult not to admire that kind of determination. Yeah, that's that's a whole new level of I don't even know what, but that's yes. But Satoru did not let go. He did not it's a good thing he didn't. I agree. But he also didn't let his life become overcome with grief. As the years pass, he became one of the most recognizable voices for families of homicide victims in Japan. He never appeared angry. He never spoke with bitterness. Instead, he carried himself with a quiet determination that left a lasting impression on everyone that met him. One aspect of his public appearances surprised many people. He never cried. Okay. Television interviews with surviving family members often focus on visible grief. You know, we talk about it a lot, and also we judge people pretty harshly on it. I'm gonna be real with you. But also Cultural differences. He also intentionally denied any of those moments to be on camera. Years later he also explained why. Quote, local media often wants an image of a bereaved family members in tears, but I didn't want the killer to have the satisfaction of seeing me weep. I didn't want to let them sleep well at night. End quote. Way to go. my gosh. He is Yes. And he's awesome. Okay. I'm like he's he's giving John Walsh of Japan vibes. Yes. So Satoru eventually became a representative secretary of Suranokai. I'm sorry if I said it right or said it wrong. It's an organization supporting the families of murdered victims throughout her Japan. Okay. So d he was out there. Yeah. his own search for justice introduced him to countless other mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, and children who loved ones' murders also went unsolved. Many of those families shared one overwhelming fear, which was time. At the time Namiko was murdered, Japan still enforced a statue of limitations for murder. If police failed to identify a killer within 15 years, that person could never be prosecuted, regardless of how much evidence emerged afterwards. Are you serious? Mm-hmm. That's okay. That's fucking wild. In 2014, the killer would have walked free. Yeah. For Satoru, that deadline wasn't simply a legal technicality, it was absolutely fucking terrifying. Yeah. And he knew he had to do something about it. He refused to accept that justice should have an expiration date. So working alongside other bereaved families, Satoru spent years advocating for legislative reform. He met with lawmakers. He spoke publicly about the emotional burden carried by families whose cases remained unsolved. He reminded people that grief doesn't simply end just because enough years have passed. Eventually, those efforts helped produce one of the most significant legal reforms in modern Japanese criminal law. Hell yeah. In 2010, Japan officially abolished the Statue of Limitations for Murder. Yay! This was an enormous victory, not just for the Takabas, but for countless families. And investigators could continue searching for the truth no matter how much time had passed. His hope no longer had an expiration date. Yeah, because that's imagine how many people got away with murders just because 15 years went by. could you imagine? Jesus. Despite the legal victory, the years continued to pass without an arrest. They never classified the case as cult though. It was always open and active. Investigators periodically reexamine the evidence such as or like on the forensic side as it improved. Question Does Japan have a database like CODIS does in the US where they can compare DNA to, or are we only comparing DNA if we like have a suspect or we've interviewed somebody? Like how is DNA being worked into this? So I'm assuming they do. I don't know for sure that they have a CODIS, but Just like CODIS, not everyone gets put into CODIS. Yes. But like I think if they have like a I'm assuming they do. Okay. I mean that's my assumption as well. But like I just didn't know if we were like waiting for somebody that was like a good enough like suspect or something to take DNA and to run it against, or if we just like Okay. Mm mm. Nope. DNA technology was becoming more sophisticated and there was new testing methods allowing scientists to recover information from evidence that would have been impossible to analyze in nineteen ninety-nine. Yeah. In twenty twenty, I am gonna say this one wrong for sure. Achi Prefectural Police announced a reward for three million yen for information leading to the arrest of Namiko's killer. And that is equivalent to about eighteen and a half thousand dollars here. Okay. Investigators had always believed she had injured her attacker. They simply just lacked the technology to identify who the hell that person was. But over the years, police did develop several persons of interest, and one of them was named Kumiko Yasufuku. Okay. A woman who had attended high school with Satoru. All right, we're getting a little bit more suspecty now. Hmm. At the time of the murder, Kumiko worked part-time at a supermarket. Okay. and her friends described her as quiet and reserved. And over the years, investigators attempted to obtain a DNA sample from her, but she repeatedly declined. Although refusing to provide a DNA sample was not proof of guilt, investigators could not compare her DNA with the blood recovered inside of the apartment. And it just makes you look suspicious as hell. Yes, it does. Then, in October of 2025, something unexpected happened. Police officers were distributing awareness flyers around, I'm sorry, about the case around a train station. When Kumiko approached them herself, said She told investigators right then that she was willing to provide a DNA sample. Why all of a sudden? No one knows exactly what changed her mind, but according to later reports, Kumiko had lived with persistent anxiety ever since the murder. She reportedly struggled every year around the anniversary as it approached, describing periods where she couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and found herself consumed by intrusive thoughts. Hm, I wonder why. Mm-hmm. She was also convinced that just a couple of months like August of twenty twenty five, she became convinced that investigators were closing in on her. were you paranoid? She sure was. Good, you should be. Whether that belief was accurate or not remains completely unclear. But What is known is that she voluntarily submitted the DNA sample that they had been yearning for for years. And when the results came back, it confirmed exactly what detectives suspected for decades. The blood found inside Numiko's apartment belonged to Kumiko. That is wild to me. Yep. After more than twenty six years, investigators finally knew the identity of the person Numiko had wounded while fighting for her life. Following the DNA match, Kumiko admitted responsibility for the murder as well. The motive investigators uncovered shocked nearly everyone involved. Just a few months before Numiko's death, Satoru had attended a high school reunion where she was present. So it was July and the murder happened in November. During the reunion, classmates shared updates about their lives. Satoru spoke very openly about his family. He explained that he had been remarried after his first marriage ended, and that he and Namiko were raising their young son together. He also there was a small report, and I don't know how accurate it was, that he was kind of bragging about having a wife eleven years younger than him. I mean, get it, my guy. Yeah. But he also spoke about the heartbreaking loss of the eldest daughter he had from his first marriage. Yeah. This is a lot of of of of oversharing at a high school reunion, but okay. Okay, man. I don't know. According to the investigators, Kumiko had developed feelings for Satoru during high school, and many people actually backed that as well. no. Mm-hmm. Those feelings never completely disappeared. And years later, they saw each other at the reunion. And he Satoru r actually reflected on speaking to her at the reunion. He remembered the conversation was like warm and friendly. And he also said Kumiko told him she was married and raising children and was working really hard and was just having a great life. So he responded by wishing her well. After the arrest. So Toru reflected on the meeting and said he had even thought that if he ever saw her again, he would apologize for not having been able to respond to the feelings she apparently once had for him. I betcha he don't feel that way no more. No, this was after the arrest. Yes. So he was like, I feel like if I see her, I'm gonna say sorry I didn't reciprocate those feelings. However, according to investigators, Kumiko told police she did not have feelings for him. But he apparently made a comment at the reunion about his daughter, and it like the his daughter that passed away and it kind of like stuck with her. So she wanted Satoru to experience what it was like to raise a child alone. That was her motive. But his daughter died. Uh-huh. We don't know how she died, by the way. So we don't know if it was an accident or if something happened with his ex-wife or what. But whatever was said, she wanted him to experience raising a child alone. W she a single mom? No, she was married. Just so she says. okay, this I feel like this only makes sense if she has a secret love child that's his that he doesn't know about. No. But I didn't see that coming, so what? Yeah. Yeah. See guys, sometimes when y'all want answers for why people did something, y you really don't because the answer's something like this and you're like, Well that helped out zero percent, but okay, thank you for telling us. Pretty much. But the thing is, Namigo had never met this woman. She had never done anything to provoke her. She wasn't chosen because she had done anything. She was targeted simply because she was the woman that Satoru loved. And that led investigators to believe Kumiko planned the attack. Well, yes. Mm hmm. So it was determined that she disguised herself as a probiotic drink salesman. So she had sought out Namiko. Even after the arrest, Satoru kind of struggled to understand what exactly happened. When asked about Kumiko, he admitted he was completely shocked. Quote, I was so shocked to learn that, because she was such a quiet girl, shy, not conspicuous at all, end quote. He explained that nothing about the young woman he remembered from high school suggested she was capable of such violence. That disbelief remained even after her confession. Okay. In twenty twenty six, so earlier this year. All right. He and his family filed a civil lawsuit against Kumiko, seeking approximately eighty million yen in damages, which is just under five hundred thousand dollars, US dollars. Wait, isn't she like gonna go to jail and trial and things? The amount reflected far more than financial loss. It represented decades of grief, the destruction of a young family, and a childhood forever changed. He has openly acknowledged that he did not expect to recover the money. straight up she he said she does not possess any assets. It was more just like a principle of the thing. The lawsuit was never about compensation. It was about accountability. Here is a time where I generally want to talk about our victim, but like I said, I don't have a lot on her I do also wanna say there's there was a lot of translation issues as well. And I feel that as well when you're and I having to translate out of another country. come out in English to America. So that could be why I don't have this information. But what I don't actually make sense. It's probably a lot harder for you to w search Japanese articles that were never put into English articles. So Correct. Yeah, there's correct. But what I do know is that she was deeply loved, clearly, and I talk about that a little bit more. And she just seemed like an all around wonderful woman. Yeah, for for everyone in the community and their friends to be like nobody hated them. There was there was nothing to hate here. There was nothing they were doing this. I mean, he was a little braggy, but I mean he was a real estate agent, so and they probably were doing well for themselves since they're both real estate agents. He was able to keep paying that rent and live with his parents and help his parents out. So I just I understand why there's not a lot, but from what you have told me, she sounds like a wonderful devoted mother and a wife, and they were trying to expand their family and they had a wonderful loving marriage because no one hated them. They were wonderful people. And apparently there was nothing happening in their marriage that was bad because everything that went on, just truly beautiful human beings. Yes. Today, very little is publicly known about Kohe's life. And I think that's exactly as it should be. Yes. He didn't choose to become part of the story. He was just two years old when his mother was taken from him in front of his eyes. And unlike so many children connected to high profile crimes, he has largely been able to grow up outside of the public eye, which has been great. That's amazing. That's that's really incredible and I like that. Mm-hmm. For how much media was on top of this, that is incredible. Mm-hmm. As of today, Kumiko is awaiting trial for the murder. we still haven't had trial. That's why we have not had trial. Why are we going through trial? Okay. And we are still waiting on the civil lawsuit. Okay. All of it just happened. It's all just happening. It's happening. Okay. So do you think we got justice? I mean I feel like we are on the road to justice. I feel like it's loading. It is because we are getting to trial. We have the lawsuit pending. Like I feel like we will get justice in this since we do have a confession. We do have all this. I don't know why I shouldn't plead guilty because like I don't think they have that there. you go through trial no matter what we don't have plead guilty. I believe so. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. I just What an incredible man. I think justice in this case is so much bigger than just her being in jail or being convinced like convicted as guilty. Because he got a s huge, huge law abolished. Yes, and he got s he helped so many other families and victims and he has managed to s pretty much solve this himself. Pretty much. and Yeah. Justice is loading on this one. I feel like we will get justice for this. Yes. I feel like we will get it guilty. I feel like she will be put away. Yeah, we're just loading. Yeah. I feel good about this justice is loading. Same, same. I This is not a temporary justice and we're getting it justice. We're getting it jumped. And justice is something that's been happening. Not necessarily maybe not justice for her that has been happening over the past twenty-six years, but justice for other victims and their families and just what he's been able to do. Yes, I feel like is going to account for a major part of this justice. And I don't think he's gonna stop now that this is solved. I think it's just gonna free up his time to help more families. I agree. I completely agree. So I have a couple of questions for the jury now. Do you Do you think that she was in love with him? Or do you think she was trying to teach him a lesson? I think she's just fucking psycho. I think she has mental problems. No. I think she's just fucking psycho. I don't even want to give her the out Period. I don't think they have that there. But like also at the same time, you're just gonna like live this you're just gonna be like completely normal and decide to murder somebody and then just like live a normal life afterwards. Like what? I mean not I mean kind of, but she remember she was having anxiety all the time. She was paranoid all the time. Tends to happen when you murder someone. That's what you fucking get. I don't feel bad for her for that. But I'm like, it's just Yeah. I'm curious if she murdered anybody else. I don't think so. I think I think she was like a scorned woman wanting revenge. Like we just raged and Yeah. Overreacted a little bit. Slight overreaction. Just a slight, slight bit. It's easy to remember this case because of the apartment. It's easy to remember it because a husband paid rent on an empty home for twenty six years. But I think that overlooks what truly makes this story remarkable. The apartment was never the point. It was hope. Every rent payment represented another month that Satoru refused to surrender. Every visit to the apartment was another reminder that Namiko deserves justice. Every interview he gave, every law he helped change, every family he comforted, every single conversation he had with any investigator, it all came from the same place, which was love. People often describe grief as something that fades with time. I don't think that's what happened here. If anything, Satoru learned how to transform his grief into purpose. He chose to fight instead of withdraw, and he chose to advocate instead of disappear. He chose hope over resignation. Perhaps the most moving words he ever spoke came after the arrest. Reflecting on the twenty six year journey that had consumed so much of his life, he quietly said, quote, I think Namiko will finally forgive me now that I have come this far. End quote. I think that's an extraordinary statement, not because he needed forgiveness, but because it reveals the promise he had silently carried for more than two decades. He believed he owed it to N Namiko to find the truth, to keep searching for justice that to be done. And even after twenty-six years, he never stopped. Yeah, that's that's a love of a different kind right there. Yeah, it is. No matter how much he bragged, she's younger than me, he loved her. He did. He loved her. I mean, but what man isn't bragging about that at their high school reunion? Period. I just that's it's just incredible. Mm-hmm. And you're right, it never was about the house or the crime scene. It was about hope and him having that hope that this was going to be solved and he didn't know if something in that house was gonna help. Yeah. What I was not able to find and it kinda hurts me a little bit, I wonder what he's going to do with the apartment now. I mean his job there's done with it. He can move his stuff out. I mean ultimately, yeah. But like also it's been twenty three years you could kinda clean and move back in. Twenty six years, girl. Yeah, twenty six years. I mean But at the same time This is where she was. This was literally a moment frozen in time that he may not want to give up yet, either for him or Kohei or any kids that he may have as well. Well, if this was the US, it would be turned into a historic piece and a museum and then you could walk through it. Yeah. But it's not the US, so that's not gonna happen. Yeah. So I don't know what's gonna happen with the apartment now. if anything ever comes out, we'll post something. But as of right now, he's still paying rent. I don't know, man. Yeah. It's hard it's a hard one. Yeah, absolutely wild. Yeah. I'm so glad that you did this one. This was one that I kind of had like in the back of my mind to like come back to later because I knew how much the new like details and stuff were in it. And I've read like a couple people articles or like other stuff on Facebook that's popped up. I haven't really like read red. I just kind of like read like a chunk that before the headline or whatever, and I wasn't in a place to like actually read the article itself. Yeah. So I'm really glad you did this one because I've actually been like wondering about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So obviously we are going to watch this for any updates that come with trying. I don't know how much of it might be released. Please don't forget. I have a feeling this is literally the other side of the world. Yeah, but I also have a feeling since people has picked it up and other stuff like that, and I know Court TV's probably touched on it, whatnot, we might have a little bit of you think Court TV's touched it? probably might have had a blurb somewhere. You know how they have their little snippets or they have things they share Vinny Paul and follows, like the stuff that he has or Ashley Banfield. So I wouldn't be surprised if somebody grabs this. I can tell you we're probably going to at least that I personally find we might be the third or fourth podcast to have an episode like a full episode. Yeah. Yeah, that's a that's wild. Yeah. Thanks for this episode today. You're welcome. But that was what I had for you guys today. Please, please, please give us your thoughts. On these questions that we gave you gave to you. We that's your homework. You know what? You guys are getting really bad at doing your homework. Nobody answers these questions on Facebook. Go do your homework. Damn. I know it's summertime, but go do your homework. Follow us, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, leave a comment or a review. Apple, Spotify, everywhere. I, you guys are listen, I've been asking them for months to make our review, our review section on Apple confuse people. And you guys are not helping me. Can somebody please do it? Like where is the love? Can you show us the love? God damn. Right? Goddamn. With that. Please, please, please have a very safe week. go check out Shadow Cards on Whatnot for trading cards. They're fun. Thank you to everyone who is watching and commenting and reviewing. We appreciate it. And we will catch you guys next week with an all-new episode. Okay. Love you. Bye.