NANTAN, Kyoto Prefecture—Police on April 15 searched the family home of an 11-year-old boy whose body was found in a wooded area around three weeks after he disappeared.
Investigators suspect Yuki Adachi, a student at Sonobe Elementary School, was a victim of foul play, although an autopsy could not determine the cause of death.
The search of the home was conducted based on suspicions the body had been illegally abandoned, according to investigative sources.
At around 7:50 a.m., several police vehicles entered the Adachi family’s property in the Sonobecho district of Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture.
Officers measured a slope leading to the home and a path to a nearby field. They also photographed the house, garden and other structures on the premises.
Police suspect Adachi died at an unknown location and his body was moved to the area of the Sonobecho district where it was found on April 13. The body did not have shoes.
The autopsy estimated the boy died in late March.
According to police, Adachi’s father said he dropped off the boy at an after-school care facility on the school grounds on the morning of March 23.
However, he was marked absent when his homeroom teacher took attendance that day, and no security footage has been found of him since his disappearance.
A large-scale search by police and fire officials followed.
The first clue emerged on March 29, when an emergency call reported Adachi’s yellow school bag had been found in the mountains about 3 kilometers west of the school.
On April 12, a pair of children’s shoes was discovered in a mountainous area between the Adachi’s home and the school.
Police said the shoes were similar to the footwear Adachi was reportedly wearing on the day he went missing.
The next day, the search focused on a location closer to the school. Officers found Adachi’s body about 2 km southwest of the campus.
AloJapan.com