Society

Corpse found in suitcase along Lake Biwa identified as victim in ’07 yakuza killing

May 26 (tokyoreporter.com) - A decayed corpse found inside a suitcase in Hikone City earlier this month is that of the victim of a murder 14 years ago, police have revealed, reports NHK

On May 17, the skeletal remains were found inside the suitcase, which was missing one half of its shell, along the shore of Lake Biwa in the Satsumacho area.

Police said on Tuesday that the results of a DNA analysis revealed that the body is that of Takao Izawa, who was 38 at the time of his death in 2007.

Izawa lived in Osaka City’s Nishi Ward. In November 2007, three men, including a former yakuza, drugged him with an anesthetic and strangled him in Suita City.

At the time, Izawa and three men were in engaged in a dispute over the management of a dental clinic.

In 2008, police in Osaka and Kyoto arrested the three men on suspicion of murder. “We dumped the body in Lake Biwa,” one of them said. However, police never located the body.

An examination of the body after the discovery revealed traces of the anesthetic ketamine, police said.

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