Police in Kyoto have arrested a man in a child abandonment case following the discovery of an 11 year old boy’s body. Yuki Adachi, 37, faces suspicion of abandoning his stepson Yuki in Nantan city. The boy went missing in March, and his body turned up on Monday. Adachi has admitted to abandoning the body. He also provided a statement suggesting he killed the boy. Consequently, the prefectural police will investigate the circumstances surrounding Yuki’s death.
According to a police announcement, Adachi moved the boy’s body between the morning of March 23 and Monday evening. He carried it to multiple locations in the city including mountain forests. Investigators identified the stepfather using security camera footage and other sources. Although Yuki’s body appeared in a forest on Monday, new suspicions have emerged. The boy may have been abandoned at other places after his death. On Thursday, the prefectural police set up a special investigation headquarters.
Sources close to the investigation revealed additional details. Adachi admitted his involvement in the boy’s death during voluntary questioning on Wednesday. An autopsy of Yuki’s body found no visible wounds. Therefore, the cause of death remains unknown at this time. Nevertheless, investigators have not ruled out murder as the cause of death.
Adachi is the boy’s stepfather and legally adopted him. The boy’s mother married Adachi, and the three lived together as a family. Yuki did not show up at elementary school on March 23. The school contacted his mother at about 11:50 a.m. that morning. Shortly afterward, the family realized the boy was missing. Investigators have confirmed that Yuki was alive on the morning of March 23.
Adachi called the police at about noon on that same day. He claimed he drove his son to school but the school said he never arrived. However, no footage of the boy appeared on the school’s security cameras. The prefectural police told reporters they are still investigating potential accomplices. Adachi reportedly made no statement about anyone else helping him.
On March 29, six days after Yuki went missing, his schoolbag appeared in a mountain. That location sits about 3 kilometers west from the school. Furthermore, on Sunday, police recovered a pair of black sneakers resembling his shoes. Those shoes turned up in a mountain about 6 kilometers southwest from the school. The prefectural police suspect the stepfather abandoned these items as well. They are now trying to clarify everything that happened in this child abandonment case. Investigators particularly want to determine how the boy died.
