A chilling seven-year corpse concealment case has come to light in Japan’s Kansai region. Takaki Fujimoto (alias) allegedly murdered his 21-year-old girlfriend, Erika Nagata, around 2010, then hid her body on the balcony of his apartment. Shockingly, he later remarried and lived with his wife for over a year, with his spouse completely unaware of the grim secret. The case was only discovered in 2017 after unpaid rent prompted a property agent to check the apartment.
According to Weekly Bunshun, Fujimoto and Nagata had been high school friends who later became lovers and cohabited. Fujimoto claimed that Nagata had fallen into a period of depression and repeatedly expressed suicidal thoughts, even allegedly asking him to “end her life himself.” He stated, “She wanted me to kill her, and I was fulfilling her wish.” After the act, Fujimoto reportedly considered suicide but failed, initially leaving the body in the bathroom. Later, due to the smell, he moved the remains to the balcony, covering them with a blanket and keeping them there for years.
Over five years later, Fujimoto married 23-year-old Miyuki Fujimoto. Unemployed and handling household chores, he often told his wife not to open the windows, citing “a drain-like smell from the balcony,” and personally managed cleaning and laundry. During their year-long marriage, she remained unaware of the horrific secret. The couple divorced after more than a year, but Fujimoto continued living in the same apartment.
In 2017, a real estate agent visited the apartment due to Fujimoto repeatedly failing to pay the monthly rent of roughly ¥42,000 (≈NT$8,480 / ≈RM1,870). On the balcony, the agent discovered a blanket-wrapped object. Upon unwrapping, they found the skeletal remains of a woman wearing only her underwear, prompting immediate police involvement. Authorities also recovered a handwritten note from Fujimoto stating, “Seven years ago I killed my girlfriend. I had planned to die with her, but couldn’t.” He was arrested three weeks later at a restaurant.
At trial, Fujimoto argued that both he and Nagata were “rejected by society” and claimed the killing was fulfilling her wish, asserting that it gave his life purpose. The prosecution, however, contended that Nagata had not truly sought death and that Fujimoto had misinterpreted her intentions. They requested a 15-year sentence. The court ultimately convicted him of “murder based on misinterpretation of the victim’s intent,” sentencing him to 5 years and 6 months in prison.
As for his ex-wife, Miyuki Fujimoto, she was briefly detained on suspicion of concealing a body, but investigators confirmed she had no knowledge of the corpse, and she was released without charges.
