On 13 November 1999, a housewife, Namiko Takaba, was murdered at her home in Japan, with her then 2-year-old son witnessing the attack.
Authorities assigned some 100,000 police officers to the case and interviewed 5,000 people, with investigators only uncovering that the suspect was a woman with type B blood, about 1.6m tall, and wearing 24cm shoes.
Namiko Takaba and her son
Her husband kept paying rent to preserve the crime scene
Hoping to preserve the crime scene, the victim’s grieving husband left the property untouched for over 20 years, holding out for any clues that might reveal who killed her.
Satoru Takaba, who never remarried, continued paying rent on the empty flat for 26 years, totaling JPY22 million (~RM592,653), as reported by South China Morning Post.
Satoru Takaba, Namiko Takaba and their son
He left everything inside the house as it was, even the bloodstains, waiting for a breakthrough in the investigation.
Last year the police reopened the case and on 30 October, 69-year-old Kumiko Yasufuku turned herself in to authorities in Nagoya.
Kumiko Yasufuku
“Continuing to pay the rent has paid off”
Yasufuku, who was Takaba’s classmate in secondary school, once had a crush on him and sent him Valentine’s chocolates with a letter expressing her feelings, but he turned her down.
Police said DNA from blood found at the murder scene matched hers, and she was arrested on suspicion of murder.
“I never expected it was her. I thought the killer would have left Nagoya, but it turns out she’s been living near my rented house all along,” Takaba said.
Old photo of Takaba and Yasufuku from their secondary school days
The two hadn’t been in contact after graduation and only met once a year before the crime, which never made Takaba suspect her.
“So paying rent for the house all these years has actually been worthwhile. It’s shocking that the murderer is someone I know. I feel so sorry for Namiko,” he added.
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Also read: Japanese Man Rams Car Into Schoolkids & Allegedly Reverses to Hit Them Again, Gets Arrested
