HOKKAIDO (TR) – Hokkaido Prefectural Police have confirmed that a woman’s corpse found abandoned inside a bar’s wall in the town of Hidaka earlier this month is that of a missing nurse, reports Nippon News Network (Jan. 14).
On Tuesday, police revealed that the deceased woman is 28-year-old Hinano Kudo, who lives in Hidaka.
Kudo was last seen on the evening of December 31 last year. On January 10, police investigating her disappearance found her body inside the wall of bar Lady Luck.
As previously reported, police later accused bar owner Toshihiko Matsukura, 49, of abandoning a corpse.
Hinano Kudo (X)
The results of an autopsy revealed the cause of death to have been asphyxiation. Kudo had been strangled by a rope or something similar.
Kudo was seen on security cameras shopping at a store near her home around 4 p.m. on December 31. Police believe she was involved in an incident shortly thereafter.
An acquaintance of Kudo’s stated, “The two of them would often come out of the bar together [after hours], and they would sometimes stay overnight at Lady Luck.”
Police are continuing the investigation on suspicion of murder.
AloJapan.com