For a company executive in Fukuoka Prefecture, a hot Saturday in July 2019 appeared to be just another typical weekend off.

When his wife called him to tell that she “will buy some burgers before returning home,” he never imagined that would be the last time he would ever talk to her.

The man, 48, currently cooks for their son, now in junior high school, every day. He is often busy with work, so he buys boxed meals for dinner at times.

Every time this happens, he feels sorry for his son, for not having made a homecooked meal. The father, at the same time, is made aware again how well his wife juggled household duties and raising their child.

The arrival of summer inevitably reminds him of the tragedy. It was very hot as well on July 6, 2019.

LAST PHONE CALL

Both the man and his wife, 38, had the day off and went to a mall in the evening together. As his wife bought a bicycle, she wanted to try it out by riding it home. 

So, the husband headed for their residence by car alone. 

A little past 9:30 p.m., the man received a phone call from his wife who said she would drop by a fast food shop before coming home. She said she “will pick up whatever you want to have.”

That was the last time the man would hear his beloved one’s voice.

The burger restaurant was not so far from their residence at the time in Kasuya, Fukuoka Prefecture. However, his wife did not come back for many hours. He assumed that she either stopped off somewhere or was perhaps visiting a friend’s house. 

Unable to simply wait for his wife to return, the husband left for the eatery to look for her and spent the entire night exploring nearby streets desperately searching. He felt despondent and was filled with anxiety.

He reported her disappearance to the police that night. Though his relatives helped search for her around their neighborhood, there were no signs of his wife or calls from her.

Two days later, a relative told the husband about seeing “something floating on a nearby river.” With the thought and the dread that it might be his wife coursing through his mind, the man rushed to the scene.

He found something drifting on the river surface although he cannot recall clearly what occurred next. The only thing he can remember was that a single look was enough for him to tell that it was his spouse. He stepped back in fear.

CRUEL CRIME

His wife had a cheerful personality and always worked hard. The couple lived with their son, who was a sixth-grade elementary school student at the time.

Whereas the wife was long a stay-at-home mother in the family of three, she started working as a sales representative at an insurance company two years before her death.

Even though she fell on difficult times in obtaining insurance contracts, she never complained about it. She, of course, asked her husband to help with the household chores, leading sometimes to quarrels, but their disagreements could quickly be reconciled.

The couple often watched TV dramas together. They went out to eat oysters, the wife’s favorite food, in winter. She lit up the household like sunshine.

A few days following the discovery of her body, a man was arrested. The details of what happened to the wife gradually emerged.

The culprit by chance spotted the woman on a bicycle heading for home and went ahead of her by car to wait in ambush. He assaulted her near a pumpkin field because there was no one around there at the time.

The culprit sexually abused and killed her. Her body was thrown into the river. Her new bicycle was found near the site.

Listening to the accounts, the husband felt his mind going blank. His spouse’s face he saw at the morgue showed many scars likely made when she brushed against the river bottom. When he closed his eyes, he would remember her body adrift in the river.

The son suffered panic attacks every 30 minutes all day and night, and would continue crying until he was exhausted and would fall asleep.

Asking himself “why didn’t I go home with my wife at that time,” the husband visited a psychosomatic medical clinic and took sleeping pills. It seemed as if his mind had been filled with guilt and grief.

Shortly after that, the family moved from their home. It caused unbearable pain for the father and son to remain living near the crime scene.

The son dropped his plan to take an entrance exam to attend a private junior high school, while the father devoted himself fully to work so as not to think about his wife. When he returned home, the man tried to behave cheerfully in order not to make the child anxious.

Taking a bath alone, the father felt his mental tension eased slightly. The memories of the family going to a theme park and snapping a lot of photos suddenly struck him, rendering it difficult to choke back his tears while taking a shower.

He thought of his wife’s smiles from their happy times together but it was impossible for him to ever see or talk to her again.

SEXUAL CRIME MADE PUBLIC

Immediately after the incident, the husband called on media organizations through his attorney asking them not to report his wife’s name and the fact that she was victimized sexually.

From her standpoint, he thought she would not want how she was killed to be made public. The decision was made to save his spouse’s honor.

But he changed his mind when prosecutors showed him a huge investigative file several months before the trial opened at the Fukuoka District Court. The material included a document detailing the murder venue, the wife’s images and other items vividly portraying the crime.

For him, there appeared to be a deep difference between descriptions in the record of the cruel attack and what was reported in the media with the fact of being a victim of sexual violence not released.

His wife did nothing wrong but was assaulted by a stranger. Anyone else could have been victimized under similar circumstances. 

The husband started thinking that he should spread his message to prevent the same atrocious crime from occurring again by making the harm inflicted on his spouse public in an open and clear fashion.

Determined to have his wife’s sexual victimization known by people, the husband talked with relatives and explained the decision to his son.

In September last year, just before the first trial’s ruling was issued, he held a news conference to speak of the sexual violence his wife experienced to in front of media cameras.

“I have been living hell-like days that are so painful that I feel like I always was remaining on the bottom of the sea,” he said. “It will be unacceptable to allow someone else to suffer such pain again.”

In his first trial, the culprit was sentenced to life in prison for having caused death via forcible sexual intercourse and other charges. The defendant’s appeal was rejected by a higher court.

The guilty verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in June this year.

Now that two years have passed since the tragic day, the husband every day offers sticks of incense at a “butsudan” Buddhist altar in his home and speaks to his spouse, including saying “good morning” and “good night.”

When he was not in front of the butsudan, the father committed himself to work as much as possible. He enjoys casual conversations with his son, who still goes to a counseling session once a month.

The father is unable to sleep soundly and cannot move his body occasionally when waking up. His stomach suddenly begins hurting, forcing him to receive intravenous drips at hospital. The man drinks more often than before.

ALERT TO SOCIETY

Despite all that, the man said he has become able to reflect on the incident objectively step by step.

The father heard a neighbor who realized that the screams he heard were from his wife, which he did not report to police. As bushes rendered the crime scene largely hidden, they were cut and cleared following the tragedy.

He visits the site once in a few weeks to lay flowers. Looking at the river generates anger about the senseless offense. The husband has yet to get over the fact that the assailant did not receive the death penalty and firmly believes the crime is “never forgivable.”

The father, though, does not want to pass his hatred for the attacker down to his son. He would like his offspring, who lost his mother, to live a happy life.

Acting on the belief that victims like his wife should never be repeated, the man hopes no one will suffer what he and his son are experiencing.

If he finds other families affected by similar incidents, he has lately begun thinking about sharing his story to help them, even if just a little.

“Those in society should be more interested in change and the requests of people around them,” he said in a determined voice during an interview.