Overview

• Kanagawa Prefectural Police re-arrested 28-year-old Hideyuki Shirai on July 12 on suspicion of killing his ex-girlfriend Ayahi Okazaki around December 20, 2024.
• Investigators uncovered Okazaki’s body in a Boston bag beneath the floor of Shirai’s Kawasaki home on April 30, with burn marks complicating the judicial autopsy’s determination of her cause of death.
• Shirai initially admitted involvement when first arrested in May for abandoning the corpse but has remained silent since the murder charges were formalized.
• Okazaki and her family had filed repeated reports of stalking and assault by Shirai from June 2024, and relatives have condemned the police for failing to enact timely protective measures.
• A special review team is examining earlier handling of stalking complaints as detectives continue probing Shirai’s motive and the detailed circumstances of the killing.