Overview
- Aichi Prefectural Police detained Kumiko Yasufuku, 69, on suspicion of fatally stabbing 32-year-old Namiko Takaha in her Nishi Ward apartment in November 1999.
- Investigators allege Takaha died from multiple knife wounds to the neck around November 13, 1999, with the case handled by the Nishi Station task force.
- Chunichi reports the suspect turned herself in, and Mainichi reports police say she has admitted the allegation.
- Early forensic work indicated the perpetrator was a woman with blood type B and a 24-centimeter shoe size, and witnesses reported seeing a bleeding middle‑aged woman near the scene.
- Police previously deployed nearly 100,000 investigator assignments and the case carried a public reward of up to ¥3 million, with Takaha’s two-year-old son found unharmed beside her body at the time; a news conference was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. local time.