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Please Don't Forget My Daughter - The Disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki · Missing Context

0:09
SPEAKER_00: In most murder cases, the truth is argued in court.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Evidence is presented.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Witnesses testify.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: A verdict is delivered.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: Naromi Kurasaki's case followed that path.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: It stretched across France, Chile, and Japan.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: Evidence was examined.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: A family crossed borders searching for answers.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: A man was convicted.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: But for Narumi's mother, Taiko Kurasaki, one question survived every ruling.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Where is my daughter?
0:57
SPEAKER_00: This is a story about justice, yes.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: But more than that, it's a story about a mother's search for the place her daughter was left behind.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: You are listening to Missing Context.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Stories from Asia and the Asian diaspora.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: In the spring of 2017, on a bridge in Chile, a Japanese mother stands face to face with the man she believes killed her daughter.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: She's flown across the world for this moment.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Investigators warned her not to contact him.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: She came anyway.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: He looks at her blank, as if he doesn't recognize her, but she knows he does.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: For months she's lived in agony, waiting for information that never comes.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: He is the last person to see her daughter alive, and investigators believe he knows where her body lies.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: She steps closer.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Her fingers tighten around the strap of her bag.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Where is Narumi?
2:24
SPEAKER_00: He lowers his eyes, turns, walks away.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Taiko stays where she is.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Cars pass behind her.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: For a few seconds she doesn't move.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Taiko had crossed an ocean, imagining this moment ending with a place name.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: A road, a forest, something.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Instead, the man walked away, carrying all of it with him.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: That moment on the bridge would become one of many in a case that stretched across three countries and nearly a decade.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: Because the disappearance of Narumi Kurasaki would become an international murder investigation.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: But the story that endured was not only about the man accused, it was about the woman who refused to stop looking for her child.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: For nearly a decade, the public narrative surrounding the disappearance and murder of Narumi Kurasaki has centered on one name.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Nicholas Cepeda, her ex-boyfriend.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: His movements were tracked, his digital footprint analyzed.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Courtrooms examined his purchases, GPS data, messages, legal experts debated extradition law.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: But running parallel to that legal saga and far less visible is another story.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: The story of Tayeko Kurasaki.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: While Zapeda's defense occupied headlines, Tayeko kept fighting for justice in ways cameras rarely follow.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: In darkened rooms, in foreign courtrooms, in letters written to a man who would not respond.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: While courtrooms focused on evidence and legal arguments, Tayeko was buying plane tickets, sitting through hearings, and waiting for answers that never came.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: In the days leading up to Narumi's disappearance, Zapeda had been seen repeatedly around her university campus in Bessance en France.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: He rented a car and parked near her residence for long stretches.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Credit card records show purchases of gasoline, bleach, matches.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: On the evening of December 4th, surveillance cameras captured Narumi meeting him in the university parking lot.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Later that night, around 1030, cameras recorded him entering her residence behind her.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: His car remained parked there for nearly thirty hours.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Inside the building, life continued as usual, students studying, doors opening and closing in the hallway, phones charging beside beds.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Then around three AM, neighbors woke.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: A scream Hi prolonged.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: It stopped.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Then started again.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: Then silence.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Doors stayed closed.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Nobody called police.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: One neighbor later said the sound terrified her so much she froze.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: Fear can do that.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Bodies sometimes lock in place before thoughts catch up.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: And when many people hear the same thing, another pattern can appear.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Each person assumes someone else will act.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Morning came.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Students walked to the halls.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Some knocked on Narumi's door and got no answer.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Classes began without her.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: After Narumi repeatedly missed classes and friends couldn't reach her, concern grew and the missing person investigation began.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: By the time authorities began reconstructing that night, another record already existed.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: Residence cameras show Zapeda entering the building behind Narumi.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: But there is no footage of him leaving.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Later, investigators discovered why.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: There was an emergency exit without cameras.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: Near that exit, they found traces of Narumi's blood.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: GPS data later placed Zapeda driving into a dense forested area for nearly two hours, then returning the rental car.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: And soon after that, he left France.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: In December of 2016, thousands of miles apart, two rooms existed in stark contrast.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: In Japan, Taiko had begun retreating from the world.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: When Narumi was declared missing on December 13th, the news arrived slowly, through consular updates, each one sounding worse than the last.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: At first, there had been messages from Narumi's phone.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: She said she was traveling, that she had met someone new, that she might be going to Luxembourg.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: The messages felt slightly off, but they existed, and so Taiko chose to believe them.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: Because people usually reach for the explanation that keeps panic at bay for a little while longer.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: She replied carefully, telling her daughter to be cautious, to stay safe, to call when she could.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: But as doubt deepened, so did Taiko's isolation.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: She shut her curtains, blocked out the light.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: She wore earplugs because she could not tolerate the sounds of life continuing outside her window.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Then came the call in December.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Narumi could not be found.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: Across the world, another room was beginning to tell its own story.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: When police entered Narumi's university residence in Bessan, France, what struck them was not chaos.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: It was order, too much order.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Friends described Narumi as endearingly messy, but the room had been meticulously cleaned.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: Her wallet sat inside, cash untouched, her only winter coat still hung by the door.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: But her passport was gone.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: Her large green suitcase was missing.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Near the building's emergency exit, investigators discovered traces of blood.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: And inside the room, Nicola Zapeda's fingerprints were found throughout.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: While Tayako sat in darkness trying to quiet her thoughts, investigators in France were beginning to assemble a far darker picture.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Through surveillance footage, phone data, credit card records.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Investigators had begun focusing on Zapeta.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: But he had already returned to Chile.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Back in Japan, after weeks in isolation, Tayeko forced herself back into motion.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: She drove through Tokyo, whispering, stay alive, Narumi, stay alive.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: By then, Tayeko had started replaying old conversations in her head.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: Things Narumi had said, moments that she had once pushed aside, now kept pulling her back.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: She wrote letters to Zapeda, begging him to tell her where Narumi was.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: At one point, she even suggested that if Narumi could simply be returned, she wouldn't seek punishment.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: He never replied.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Weeks later, Tayeko was supposed to be boarding a plane to France.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Narumi had already booked the tickets.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: It was meant to be a visit, a chance to see the life her daughter was building.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: Instead of planning sightseeing, Tayiko was now trying to reach the man she believed knew everything.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: She chose to believe Narumi might somehow still be alive, perhaps living somewhere in Europe with him.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: If that were true, she only needed proof.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: A voice, a location, something.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: But what made the situation unbearable was the silence.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: He knew something she did not, and every day he chose not to say it.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: As Zapeda's name dominated legal proceedings, Tayko's fight unfolded in other ways.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: The ticket meant for a family visit became a ticket to Chile, to attend an extradition hearing and plead that her daughter's killer be sent back to France to stand trial.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: She navigated foreign systems, language barriers, years of delay, all propelled by a simple refusal to let her daughter disappear.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: In 2022, in a French courtroom, Taiko sat clutching Narumi's photograph against her chest.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Forensic experts reconstructed her daughter's final hours.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: They described digital manipulation by Zapeya, videos threatening to make Narumi pay for breaking up with him.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Messages sent from Narumi's accounts after she had likely already died.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: GPS trails leading into forested terrain.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Investigators admitting that they were unable to locate Narumi's body after extensive searches.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: At one point, Taiko fainted.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: What investigators described was not a single violent moment.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: It was a pattern planning, manipulation, threats, disappearance.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Taiko listened to all of it.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: When she addressed the court, she recalled the first time she met Zapera in Tokyo.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: I thought he was a handsome boy, she said.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Then she paused.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: One thing caught my attention.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: This boy did not greet me.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: In Japan, really in many parts of the world, greeting elders signals respect.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: A young man meeting his girlfriend's mother for the first time is expected to acknowledge this.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: The moment seemed small, but Tayiko remembered it.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Months later, Naumi told her about getting lost in the fog during a ski trip in Chile.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: She'd been shouting for a long time before Zapeda found her.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: He told her not to tell anyone.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: That was when Taiko understood this man was not trustworthy.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Later, when he insisted on moving into Narumi's home to be closer to her, Taiko recalls her family's extreme discomfort.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: When he discouraged Narumi from studying in France, Taiko remembers feeling like she needed to watch this relationship closely.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: And for a parent, that realization can carry a cruel question.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: If I sensed something, why didn't I stop it?
16:13
SPEAKER_00: Taiko has never said she blames herself, but she had seen something.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: Years later, Taiko still returns to those memories.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: The first meeting, the ski trip, the small things that felt off.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Wearing an oversized black blouse, her hands wrapped tightly around Narumi's photograph, Taiko paused repeatedly before continuing.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: The greatest joy of my life was Narumi's birth, she said.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: The greatest sorrow is also linked to her.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: She steadied herself against the witness stand.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: During her agony, she said, Narumi surely called out Help, Mom, but I couldn't save her.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: In twenty twenty two, the verdict was delivered.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Nicholas Zapeda was found guilty of murdering Narumi Kurasaki.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: He received twenty-eight years of criminal imprisonment.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: But under the terms of international transfer agreements, he will serve a substantial portion of that sentence in Chile, more than half of it in fact, closer to his influential family, in his own language, and within a legal system familiar to him.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: He will serve his years near home.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: Tyco will serve hers everywhere.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: The case did not end there.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: The conviction was later appealed.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: It was upheld.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Then, on procedural grounds unrelated to the evidence presented, the verdict was annulled.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Another trial was ordered for twenty twenty six.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: Three trials, and still no place to visit, no grave or altar for Taiko to stand beside.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: In Japan, when someone dies, relatives gather around the body.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: They sit on tatami mats, they offer incense, they chant sutras.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: After cremation, fragments of bone are lifted carefully from the ashes and placed in an urn.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: That absence did not stay inside ritual for Taiko's family.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: It followed them into the world.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Taiko had raised her three daughters carefully.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: She invested in their education, their reputations, their standing in the community.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: In Japan, like much of Asia, the boundary between private life and public life is guarded.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: What happens inside the home is expected to stay there.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: What happens in public reflects on the family as a whole.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Narumi's murder tore through that boundary.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: The case became public.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Details circulated.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: Strangers speculated.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Taiko later said that she and her surviving daughters had been indirectly murdered as well.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: The damage did not end with one life.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: Taiko has said she will never return to the social position she once held, the respect she built over decades.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Her grief came with scrutiny.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: Condolences were shadowed by questions.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: There was no burial ceremony, and no return to privacy.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Under years of grief, public attention, and unanswered questions, Taiko attempted to take her own life more than once.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Each time her surviving daughters intervened, they reminded her of something.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Narumi's story could not disappear with her.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: That one day another young woman might recognize warning signs because Narumi's story had been made public.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: So Taiko made a decision.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: If she could not bring Narumi home, she would make sure her daughter was not erased.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Courts focus on evidence, charges, sentencing.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: But for Taiko, the fight was different.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: It was about surviving in a world that allowed her daughter to vanish into a forest and remain there.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: In the last few weeks, Taiko Kurasaki has testified again.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: She boarded another flight, sat again in a foreign courtroom, listened as translators recounted the final hours of her daughter's life.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: The man convicted of killing Narumi Kurasaki sat a few feet away.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: He continued to say nothing.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: He continued to deny everything.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: The legal arguments revolved around him, his intent, his rights, his sentence.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Zapeda's conviction was upheld.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: But even after years of trials, appeals, and rulings, one question still has no answer.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Beneath this narrative, there has always been another story.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: A mother crossing oceans.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: A woman raised in a culture that prizes restraint, choosing confrontation instead.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: If you ask Taiko what she wants, she speaks plainly.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: She has said she will never accept the idea that the man convicted of killing her daughter could one day walk free.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: But after years of courtrooms, flights, and testimony, Taiko still returns to that same question.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Where is Narumi?
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Since that bridge in Chile, where a mother stood face to face with the man she believes knows what happened to her daughter.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: And still, Taiko Kurasaki continues to search for the place where Narumi was left for the answer that might finally allow a mother to lay her daughter to rest.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: This is missing context.