Photo/Illutration A 37-year-old son died in this house in Kawasaki’s Asao Ward. (Kyoko Doi)

KAWASAKI—Police here said they arrested family members of a 37-year-old man who died after being handcuffed and confined at their home apparently to prevent his violent and erratic behavior from spilling outside.

The Asao Police Station in Kanagawa Prefecture on Jan. 31 said it arrested Naoki Yokoyama, 70, his wife, Junko, 65, and their daughter, Nanako, 36, on suspicion of illegally confining the couple’s oldest son, Yuichiro, from May to September 2021 at their two-story wooden house in Kawasaki’s Asao Ward.

The suspects said Yuichiro was schizophrenic, but this was never confirmed by a doctor, police said.

Naoki said that Yuichiro started yelling and behaving violently toward his parents about 17 years ago when he was a university student, police said.

The parents consulted with the ward office and were told that Yuichiro “is suspected to have schizophrenia.” But they did not visit a clinic.

Around five years ago, Yuichiro started refusing to wear clothes and had difficulty using the toilet, the father said. The parents again went to the ward office for a consultation, but they did not take their son to see a doctor.

“I thought it would cause other people problems if we went out,” police quoted Naoki as saying. “(Yuichiro) became violent when we tried to take him to a (clinic).”

On May 4, 2021, an officer from the police station found Yuichiro walking around naked near his house.

The family members later handcuffed his hands and feet, and a rope connected to the cuffs was tied to two door knobs in a room on the second floor of the house, police said.

While being confined in this manner, Yuichiro could still walk and eat and drink on his own. But around late July, the amount of water and “bento” meals consumed by him decreased, and he gradually became unable to move, police said.

On Sept. 6, police officers went to the house after receiving a call from Naoki, saying, “My son has died.”

They found Yuichiro, naked, lying on his back on the first floor under the stairs. His hands and feet were cuffed.

Human excrement was scattered on sheets covering the first-floor hallway in front of the entrance, as well as the stairs and hallway, rooms and a bathroom on the second floor.

An autopsy determined the cause of death was an infectious disease from bacteria found in the excrement.

Police might rearrest the suspects on suspicion of abandoning a person under their protection that resulted in death.

Naoki has admitted his responsibility, saying he “did not want to cause trouble by letting Yuichiro leave the house,” police said. But Junko and Nanako have denied the allegations.

A 78-year-old man who lives nearby said he has only exchanged greetings with Naoki.

“I thought he was avoiding communicating with his neighbors,” the man said.

(This article was written by Rikuri Kuroda and Kyoko Doi.)

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