A woman's body found in a home freezer in the city of Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, last week has been identified as the wife of one of the three suspects arrested in connection with the case, Shiga Prefectural Police said on Wednesday.
The body has been identified as Mariko Nonaka, 57, from the city of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. She was married to Hideki Nonaka, a 63-year-old part-time cleaner, who has been arrested on suspicion of abandoning a corpse.
Shiga police have also arrested two other suspects: Tatsuhiko Iwase, 49, a court clerk at the Nagahama Summary Court, and his unemployed father, Koichiro Iwase, 72, who lives with him. Nonaka is believed to be Tatsuhiko’s uncle.
The three are accused of conspiring to store the body in the freezer at Iwase’s home, according to police.
The Nagahama Police Station reported that an autopsy revealed no life-threatening external injuries. The exact cause of death is still under investigation.
Mariko Nonaka's body was discovered on April 2, when investigators visited Iwase’s residence following information provided by the Osaka Prefectural Police. The tip-off came from a suicide note found in connection with a separate incident in Osaka Prefecture.
The note reportedly contained information indicating the involvement of Iwase and the others in the body abandonment case.
The body was found frozen in a crouched position, still wearing clothes, and is thought to have been kept in the freezer for a long time, according to NHK.
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