KYOTO, (Japan): The Kyoto prefectural police on Monday (April 13) discovered a body believed to be that of a child in a wooded area in Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture, while they were searching for a missing 11-year-old boy.
Yuki Adachi, a sixth-grader at Sonobe Elementary School, went missing near the school late last month. According to the police, the coloration of the clothing on the body resembled that of the clothes Adachi was wearing when he was last seen. A forensic autopsy is now being conducted on the suspicion that the body is Adachi’s.
According to the prefectural police, the body was found lying face up in a wooded area about 2 kilometres south of the elementary school and had on a navy blue fleece jacket and beige long pants but no shoes.
Due to its small size, the body did not appear to be that of an adult, but the exact age and gender of the deceased have not been determined, the police said. A considerable amount of time seemed to have passed between the person’s death and when the body was found.
A 50-member group dispatched by the prefectural police had been searching the city since Monday morning and discovered the body at around 4.45pm that afternoon, they said.
That evening, traffic was restricted along a forest road leading into the woods in the vicinity of what seems to have been the discovery site. Investigators were seen searching the area with flashlights.
The police declined to comment on the condition of the outfit the deceased was wearing or the reason they had focused their search on that particular site, out of concerns speaking could cause problems for the investigation.
According to several sources, including police and the elementary school, Adachi is said to have gotten out of his family’s car about 200 meters away from the school building at around 8am on March 23. His absence was first noted by his homeroom teacher when he was not present for an attendance check at the school at 8.30am. Although there were two security cameras at the school, no figure appearing to be Adachi was present on footage from either on that day.
Because graduation ceremonies were being held on that day, the school was very busy, and no one contacted Adachi’s mother to confirm his absence until around 11.50am. The school spokesperson said, “This should never have happened, and we feel a grave sense of responsibility.”
The following day, March 24, was the day of the school’s end-of-term ceremony, but Adachi was scheduled to go on a trip, and the school said they had already been notified by his family that he would be absent. However, that notification was made prior to his disappearance.
On March 25, the police called for information and released a photo of Adachi, as well as details of the clothing he was wearing on the day he vanished. About 1,000 police officers were deployed to search for him, joined by local firefighters and Adachi’s relatives.
On March 29, relatives discovered Adachi’s school bag in the mountains about 3 kilometres west of the school. On Sunday, a pair of black shoes believed to belong to a child were found during a search in the mountains about 6 kilometres southwest of the school. The shoes resembled a pair of black sneakers Adachi is known to have worn, and the police are conducting DNA analysis and other tests to confirm their origin. - The Yomiuri Shimbun
