Overview

• Tachibana Koji, 55, and his live-in partner, Kambara Miki, 35, were re-arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of Nomura Kaori, 33, whose skeletal remains were found in January in Gifu Prefecture.
• Police allege the body was dumped on a mountainside in Ibigawa between the night of December 14 and the early hours of December 15, 2024, after Nomura was reported missing.
• A hunter discovered a skull and other bones on January 13; DNA testing identified Nomura, and a judicial autopsy could not determine a cause of death.
• Investigators say security camera footage and other leads raised suspicion about the pair, who were already indicted in September over a separate killing and body abandonment involving a woman from Tokoname.
• Separately, Chiba Prefectural Police arrested a 63-year-old woman on suspicion of leaving her brother's body at home, and she told officers she could not afford funeral costs while denying she intended to abandon it.