Overview
- Police sent Anfuku Kumiko, 69, to the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office on Sunday on suspicion of murdering 32-year-old Takaha Namiko in 1999, and she has acknowledged the allegation.
- Investigators say she declined voluntary DNA requests multiple times over the summer before providing a sample on October 30, which matched crime-scene DNA the next day and led to her October 31 arrest.
- An on-site inspection on November 1 identified bloodstains in the apartment that police say matched the suspect’s DNA.
- Police have not confirmed any prior relationship between the suspect and the victim, though reporting notes a link to the victim’s husband from their high school days.
- The victim’s husband kept renting the crime-scene apartment for 26 years at a cost exceeding ¥20 million, a rare preservation effort highlighted against national data showing over 40% of long-unsolved cases have lost their original buildings as police test 3D and VR documentation.