Photo/Illutration Two burned bodies are found near a riverbed in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, on April 16. (Satomi Ono)

NASU, Tochigi Prefecture—One of two bodies found burned in the mountains here was identified as Ryutaro Takarajima, a 55-year-old businessman from Tokyo, investigative sources said.

The other body is likely a woman aged between 40 and 69, Tochigi prefectural police said on April 17.

Police have voluntarily interviewed several people in the investigation, including a man in his 20s who entered a police station in Tokyo on his own accord, the sources said.

The two bodies were found just before 7 a.m. on April 16 in a mountainous area about 18 kilometers east of JR Nasushiobara Station.

A worker, 55, saw smoke rising from a riverbed below a forest road, and informed another man, 37. The younger man then notified prefectural police, saying that “something that looks like a mannequin is on fire.”

When police found the bodies, their heads were covered with bags and adhesive tape, the sources said.

According to a resident who saw the bodies, they were dumped in a cross-shaped, overlapping configuration, and their ankles were bound with what appeared to be zip ties.

Both bodies were burned beyond recognition, and a container apparently with oil was found nearby. There were also burn marks on the ground around the bodies, the investigative sources said.

An autopsy revealed the cause of death for the two was asphyxiation due to cervical compression, and the woman had also suffered head trauma.

Both likely died a few days before their bodies were burned, the sources said.

A 66-year-old man who works for the local forestry cooperative said a forest road ends just before the site where the bodies were found.

“Only local people enter the area. If an unknown vehicle passes by, it will be noticed,” he said.

About three hours before the bodies were found, a black sedan was seen coming and going on the road.

Several security cameras installed by residents recorded the car around 4 a.m. on April 16. Police have obtained the footage.

The riverbed area is rarely entered by anyone other than nearby residents and forestry cooperative officials, local sources said.

None of them owns a car that looks like the one in the footage, they added.

‘SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN’

According to the register and credit rating companies, Takarajima was involved in operating multiple restaurants near JR Ueno Station in Tokyo’s Taito Ward.

The website of a company that he heads lists 14 restaurants, including a yakiniku restaurant and an izakaya tavern, effectively under his control.

According to several restaurant employees in the area, Takarajima was a successful manager.

The company website’s description of his business activities also includes real estate, dispatches of general laborers, and imports and sales of clothing and food products made in China and South Korea.

Takarajima’s registered home is in a high-rise condominium in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, which is about 140 km from where his body was found.

(This article was compiled from reports written by Atsushi Takahashi, Satomi Ono, Jin Hirakawa, Risako Miyake, Emika Terashima, Akihito Ogawa and Saori Kuroda.)

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