Overview
- The Mito District Court on Wednesday, Sept. 30 sentenced 29‑year‑old Takumi Ouchi to 20 years in prison for murder and violations of the Stalker Regulation Act.
- Prosecutors say Ouchi killed nail technician Haruka Komatsumoto in her Mito apartment on Dec. 31, 2025 by repeatedly striking her head with a hammer and stabbing her neck while she was five months pregnant.
- Court records show Ouchi tracked the victim by secretly attaching a location‑tracking 'lost‑item' tag to the back of her car license plate in the days before the killing.
- The Supreme Court’s Third Petty Bench on Sept. 29 unanimously rejected a second retrial petition by death‑row inmate Satoshi Uematsu, making the decision final.
- Hyogo prefectural police on Sept. 30 arrested physician Kenji Shimomura on suspicion of dismembering and dumping his wife's body after searches recovered bones this year that were forensically matched to the victim.