Dismembered body of Japanese man found in freezer 15 years later; ex-wife arrested

A dismembered body of a Japanese man was found in a chest freezer at a Kobe apartment on Saturday (Jun 20), believed to have been kept for about 15 years, with his ex-wife later admitting involvement. 

According to Japanese media reports, police identified the victim as Yutaka Nishiguchi, who had lived at the unit around 15 years ago and would have been 57 this year. 

His ex-wife, Aki Mochizuki, 50, voluntarily contacted police on Monday evening (Jun 22) and admitted her involvement during questioning, saying she had done “something unforgivable” and had no excuse for her actions. She was formally arrested on Tuesday (Jun 23) on suspicion of abandoning a corpse.

Mochizuki is listed as a tenant of the apartment and is believed to have placed the body in bags and stored it in the freezer around 2012, the same year the pair finalized their divorce, though they were still living together at the time.

The body was discovered after residents complained of a foul odor. Officers found a large chest freezer near the entrance, inside which lay a male body severed at the waist, with the upper and lower halves separately bagged. An autopsy could not establish the cause of death. Police believe decomposition had set in after the apartment's electricity was cut off, causing the freezer to stop working.

Investigators are continuing to look into the circumstances of the death and dismemberment, and whether Mochizuki may face a murder charge.

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