Japan - Namiko Takaba (32) murdered at home, 13 Nov 1999

[Charlot123]

Here is the information about situation in namu.wiki:

https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EB%82%98%EA%B3%A0%EC%95%BC%20%EC%A3%BC%EB%B6%80%20%EC%82%B4%ED%95%B4%EC%82%AC%EA%B1%B4

 

[Charlot123]

Where is this info from?
To my knowledge Satoru Takaba was ever only married to Namiko, has never divorced nor remarried.

In 2024 I paid attention to the spouses’ age difference, and read something about Satoru’s prior marriage. (It is also mentioned in YouTube “the Unsolved Case of Namiko Takaba” by Rhetorica. The second half of the case, about 50 minutes 40 seconds). Satoru had a previous marriage but his ex-wife lived in another prefecture, had type A blood and had an alibi. Also, there was no bad blood between Satoru and his ex-wife.

To be fair, I never suspected either Satoru’s ex-wife or Namiko’s mother to be related to this case. At all.

It was knowing what Namiko, sadly, could not see - how deeply loyal Satoru proved to be to his slain wife - that gave me the idea that it must have been Satoru himself who was seen as the biggest prize by the killer.

But one wonders how Satoru did not recognize the sketches. It was unclear to me at the very beginning that the sketch was released only in 2020! However, I also wonder if Satoru might suffer from poor facial recognition (a condition far more common than it is officially diagnosed). I even asked if Kohei perhaps inherited own good facial memory from the mother.

Another reason why the murderer remained under the radar for such a long time was, likely, her reputation of a “mature” person and lack of prior criminal history.

Here is what Satoru said about the suspect.

(From Namu.wiki)

“judging from the testimony that Yasufuku confessed to Takaba as a student, but was rejected, and that she was living a difficult life even after marriage”, ..,”it is presumed that the murder was motivated by jealousy.”

I am not sure whether it can be called jealousy. One wonders if Yasufuku hoped that she could become another wife. “The last time her husband Satoru met Yasufuku was at a class reunion in 1998, a year before the incident, and Satoru reportedly told Yasufuku that he was married, had a family, and was working hard.” But this is why I believe it is important to find out what was the previous thing Yasufuku heard about Satoru, and when. If she heard that he was divorced but without the details, she might have started obsessing about marrying him. This could explain the hatred she felt towards Satoru’s new wife Namiko who had a lovely child with him.

Anyhow, another case of a “quiet and mature” female who, deep inside, is madly obsessed with a good man, likely, stalks his family (at least she plannned it longer and made some connection with Namiko, it seems) and then ruins it all.

Poor Satoru. He rented this apartment for so many years because he could not give up on the life he planned to have with Namiko, the life that had never happened. Since DNA criminology is slowly entering Japan, I hope that therapy does, too. I hope that Satoru finally can close this door, for himself and his grown up son Kohei, and finds happiness in his retirement.

 

[Eliver]

逮捕の安福久美子容疑者（69）が事件現場のアパートへ 容疑者立ち会いで現場検証始まる 本人のDNA提出が逮捕の決め手に【名古屋市・主婦殺害事件】（TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN） - Yahoo!ニュース

26年前、名古屋市西区で主婦の女性が殺害された事件で、警察はきのう逮捕した69歳の女を事件現場に立ち会わせて、現場検証を行いました。 事件現場の名古屋市西区のアパートには、きょう午後4時半ごろ、安

news.yahoo.co.jp

Today the police has visited the murder scene (still preserved by Satoru-san after 26 years) together with the suspect Yasufuku Kumiko to start investigating and piece together the various phases of the murder with the alleged perpetrator.

As you can see in the video attached to the news, the whole scene was covered with a blue sheet and as of now the suspect face has not been released publicly if not for an unclear frame of a video where she is being escorted in a car from what I believe are investigators.

 

[espirtu pampa]

When and how the suspect caught the attention of police officers after all these years ?
Thanks

 

[Incoherent]

When and how the suspect caught the attention of police officers after all these years ?
Thanks

We are getting information as it comes in real time at the moment; the story is currently dominating Japanese news and developing.

As @Eliver said the suspect was taken to the Takaba apartment today with police to begin piecing together what happened. Currently we don’t know how she appeared on their radar, but it’s been reported she attended an alumni tennis reunion with Mr. Takaba in 1998, the year before the murder, and the pair spoke.
She also only began to be questioned by police from this year, 26 years later.

There are videos of the son, Kohei, when he was 3 years old saying “mummy had a fight with the lady from the convenience store and died”. It was reported today that the suspect worked a part time job, possibly at a convenience store. So the child’s words could have held the truth.

 

[espirtu pampa]

@Incoherent
Thank you very much. Sorry for the trouble. I thought I had missed some big news. Now I know it is still coming.

 

[Charlot123]

In earlier reports, the witnesses who saw the killer described her as somewhat drunk, right? Yet Yasufuku did not go totally downhill in 26 years, as it seems. Did she drink “to strengthen the intention” before she came to Namiko? The murder is preplanned, IMO.

Kohei described the killer as the woman they met in a convenience store. And, Namiko’s friend living in the apartments remembered a woman with black permed hair talking to Namiko at the apartment complex a week before; she put a silver attaché case to prevent the door from closing. The woman gave the friend an intense look and continued talking to Namiko. (The friend thought the person was selling cosmetics or such.)

Namiko was known to be careful to open the door, yet she did it. JMO, she knew the visitor before.

Companies like Mary Kay existed in Japan, too. Either Namiko was thinking of a part-time job when raising two kids, or looking for a job from home for her mother, soon to move in. If Yasufuku posed like the representative of such a company, that could perk up Namiko’s interest. MOO, Namiko was totally off-guard in the apartment.

One wonders if Yasufuku permed the hair shortly before. Namiko also wears her hair permed on one photo so maybe it was fashionable, but permed hair is something all of the witnesses mentioned. If Yasufuku was slowly approaching Namiko, knowing that Satoru was working a lot but also, that the MIL would soon move in, so she didn’t have much time, she ran the risk of Namiko describing her new friend to Satoru. “Gorgeous haircut” is descriptive.
(For my interest, maybe we’ll know when Yasufuku permed her hair. It probably looked different at the reunion of 1998; maybe she also wore glasses then?)

JMO: either Yasufuku will keep silent during the trial or her defense will be that she was provoked. (Remember what some of Namiko’s friends (and even, the profiler) alleged? Namiko was prone to say things that felt too straightforward. Even the police initially felt that Namiko somehow provoked the assailant).

IMHO, the true situation was the opposite. Namiko felt comfortable. Her son in the high chair. The TV on. What Namiko probably said was what others had heard. That she was happy in the marriage, and her son was handsome like her husband, and they wanted to have one more child. I am positive that the attack was planned and came unexpected for Namiko but being a young and strong woman, she fought like a tigress and didn’t make it easy for the murderer.

As to how they found Yasufuku now? My guess is, spread of the knowledge via the internet. Namiko (and her mom) must have had a huge list of connections to be ruled out. It might have taken the police a while to look at Satoru’s circle. By that time, information about the case reached the area where Yasufuku lived. An old scar, and didn’t they say that the perpetrator was possibly a leftie? A new neighbor read the news and put the age/scar/handedness together. One tip that appeared to have prior connection to Satoru.

 

[espirtu pampa]

@Charlot123

Still it took 26 years...!

 

[Charlot123]

@Charlot123

Still it took 26 years...!

Several things might have contributed.

- consider today’s ease of the spread of knowledge. (I read about a man who committed two similar crimes in adjacent counties in 1998 and died in jail in 2003. The cases were never connected until recently).
- DNA tests; we don’t know when is the situation in Japan going to change but the fact that the technology of 1:1 comparison exists is ultimately what made Yasufuku confess.
- the activity of Sora No Kai group and the consecutive removal of the statute of limitations in 2010. That was a lot. The biggest one.

And then, people think in the same way. Police, too. First, the obvious. A beautiful, vibrant, young and social wife killed in 1999. Everyone tries to rule out the usual suspects, the exes, the friends (and given that Namiko was outgoing, there probably were a lot of people around her). Then, her mother’s unusual history would come to mind, right? The people around her devoted, quiet husband, working long hours, his life very predictable, were not even considered. His ex-wife was ruled out and that’s all.

What I think happened after 26 years is that with Namiko being gone for so long, everyone suddenly noticed the other side of the story. The husband didn’t touch a thing in that apartment. He rented it all these years. He was grieving and dedicated his life to raising his child and solving his wife’s murder. And then everyone suddenly thinks the same, people of such decency and moral strength are hidden gems. They can be very attractive to women. But he is not a player. So, to go to his younger time, and you have to first look at college, then, down to school.

In short, were Satoru a rich man, someone killing the wife because of him would have been considered much sooner. But he was not rich. And it takes much longer to see the human goodness.

Ultimately, I think that for Yasufuku, these years were not fun. It was an abnormal, obsessive, hopeless and twisted, but still love. How does one feel seeing what you did to a human’s life? She might feel that she is finally setting Satoru free.

 

[Gators North]

What bothers me is that Yasufuku actually showed up at Satoru’s apartment more than once. That takes nerves of steel. And what if Satoru himself had unexpectedly shown up? That would have been really bad for Yasufuku.

I wonder if Namiko had ever actually met the suspect.

I hope more information comes out.

JMO.

 

[Incoherent]

@Charlot123

Still it took 26 years...!

In 26 years not one of the 100,000 on the case thought to sit down with Mr. Takaba to look back at his previous few years it seems like.
It would have only taken looking at the last year for the tennis reunion to surface with a list of attendees and the killer was right there. I am also interested to know how and why it took so long.

The suspect was 43 and married at the time of the murder, so I would even hazard a guess she has been living in the same house the entire time too.

 

[Incoherent]

The first images of the suspect Kumiko Yasufuku arrested for the murder of Namiko Takaba have been included in an article from The Online Bunshun

 

[Eliver]

I know these are old pictures from the high school days, but I'm not sure I see the resemblance from the police sketches. Maybe the eyes?

There was also a video where some journalists were talking to Satoru-san and they also said "She doesn't look like the sketches at all".

 

[Charlot123]

In 26 years not one of the 100,000 on the case thought to sit down with Mr. Takaba to look back at his previous few years it seems like.
It would have only taken looking at the last year for the tennis reunion to surface with a list of attendees and the killer was right there. I am also interested to know how and why it took so long.

The suspect was 43 and married at the time of the murder, so I would even hazard a guess she has been living in the same house the entire time too.

To be fair, in 2000 we'd probably think the way they did. Yet even her mom's history was a big red herring.

I wonder if this is the lesson for our other unsolved cases. Perhaps if everyone suspects "the obvious" but can't find any proof, it makes sense to look at the other option? Yasufuko was an unusual suspect; considered mature and without any criminal history. Plus, won't you expect a 43-year old woman to grow out of her school crush?

 

[Charlot123]

I know these are old pictures from the high school days, but I'm not sure I see the resemblance from the police sketches. Maybe the eyes?

There was also a video where some journalists were talking to Satoru-san and they also said "She doesn't look like the sketches at all".

The top one "slightly" resembles her, but consider a different hair style that changes the impression. Eyes, nose and rounded chin at least are similar. The eyebrows are different but they are correctable.
The lower one looks very different because of the pointed chin.

 

[Eliver]

安福久美子容疑者特定「なぜ26年後」識者解説、名古屋主婦殺害

長年未解決だった、1999（平成11）年11月13日に起きた名古屋市西区主婦殺害事件は、約26年が経過した2025年10月31日、愛知県警がついに被疑者を逮捕…

www.zakzak.co.jp

Just less than two hours ago this news outlet has published a lengthy article summarizing all the things known up until now and some new information.
There are just a couple things more that are being added to the overall narrative:

- Apparently, in recent times the police had made a list comprising around 5000 (or more) people that were not interviewed enough or not fully investigated. Yasufuku Kumiko was amongst them and even before the arrest the police felt that "the culprit was someone on the list".
- A former detective reveals that when Satoru and Kumiko met in 1998, that's the moment Satoru found out that Kumiko's last name had changed to "Yasufuku" because of her marriage. As of now, we don't know her maiden name (doesn't really matter, I guess?).
- It seems like there have been no previous harassments or stalking from Kumiko towards Namiko. Satoru is also absolutely sure the two never met before, not to his knowledge at least.

The following is JMO, but overall, it seems like even though Kumiko was already married and had a child, she might have been triggered by something the year prior to the murder when she met Satoru at the alumni meeting. Satoru reported that she was going through an hard time with work.
I tend to agree with Satoru's belief that the two women did not meet each other before, Namiko was reportedly very careful in handling the door and she would mention a woman coming to visit her to the husband, wouldn't she?

Waiting for more news outlets to catch on these new few details to see if they get confirmed or not.
Possibly, today there's gonna be more information coming out throughout the day.

 

[Charlot123]

安福久美子容疑者特定「なぜ26年後」識者解説、名古屋主婦殺害

長年未解決だった、1999（平成11）年11月13日に起きた名古屋市西区主婦殺害事件は、約26年が経過した2025年10月31日、愛知県警がついに被疑者を逮捕…

www.zakzak.co.jp

Just less than two hours ago this news outlet has published a lengthy article summarizing all the things known up until now and some new information.
There are just a couple things more that are being added to the overall narrative:

- Apparently, in recent times the police had made a list comprising around 5000 (or more) people that were not interviewed enough or not fully investigated. Yasufuku Kumiko was amongst them and even before the arrest the police felt that "the culprit was someone on the list".
- A former detective reveals that when Satoru and Kumiko met in 1998, that's the moment Satoru found out that Kumiko's last name had changed to "Yasufuku" because of her marriage. As of now, we don't know her maiden name (doesn't really matter, I guess?).
- It seems like there have been no previous harassments or stalking from Kumiko towards Namiko. Satoru is also absolutely sure the two never met before, not to his knowledge at least.

The following is JMO, but overall, it seems like even though Kumiko was already married and had a child, she might have been triggered by something the year prior to the murder when she met Satoru at the alumni meeting. Satoru reported that she was going through an hard time with work.
I tend to agree with Satoru's belief that the two women did not meet each other before, Namiko was reportedly very careful in handling the door and she would mention a woman coming to visit her to the husband, wouldn't she?

Waiting for more news outlets to catch on these new few details to see if they get confirmed or not.
Possibly, today there's gonna be more information coming out throughout the day.

Two things that I have noticed in the article. 1) The police said that the case took so long because there was no fact of the killer previously knowing the victim.

The paradigm could have shifted when the police finally started viewing Satoru as the victim, too.

2) Satoru said that there were few girls in his class and Yatsufuku was pleasant but her feelings to him ended up unrequited.

JMO - probably Yatsufuku was more obsessed as she (as the article linked) says, was attending games of Satoru's university team. Which may have not looked at something unusual at the time, perhaps it was a popular team. But now it looks ominous. He met her and spoke to her in 1998 school reunion and realized that her name had changed. But truly, it looked like a nice conversation of old buddies, as he said that he was married, had a kid and worked a lot and she was married, had a kid (s?) and was also working.

So it felt like an old friends' meeting. Of interest, the first policeman reviewing the case said to Satoru, "you and your (deceased) wife were such nice people, I can't imagine anyone being your enemy".

Surely it is common to look for enemies in murder cases, not for "school friends."

It would be interesting to see what kind of a person the murderer ends up being. "Pleasant" but prone to horrible anger? Or "if I can't have you, no one can"? Or "I am no worse than her"?

 

[dotr]

Aichi police arrest suspect in slashing death of woman in 1999 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

''NAGOYA—The dogged perseverance of a widower for nearly three decades has helped police arrest a suspect in the murder of his wife.

Satoru Takaba, 69, preserved the crime scene by spending about 22 million yen ($143,000) over 26 years on rent for the apartment where his wife, Namiko, was slashed to death in November 1999.

Along with others, Takaba also lobbied the central government to revise a law to eliminate the statute of limitations for heinous crimes such as murder.

The law was revised in 2010, and Aichi prefectural police continued with the murder investigation.''

 

[Incoherent]

安福久美子容疑者特定「なぜ26年後」識者解説、名古屋主婦殺害

長年未解決だった、1999（平成11）年11月13日に起きた名古屋市西区主婦殺害事件は、約26年が経過した2025年10月31日、愛知県警がついに被疑者を逮捕…

www.zakzak.co.jp

Just less than two hours ago this news outlet has published a lengthy article summarizing all the things known up until now and some new information.
There are just a couple things more that are being added to the overall narrative:

- Apparently, in recent times the police had made a list comprising around 5000 (or more) people that were not interviewed enough or not fully investigated. Yasufuku Kumiko was amongst them and even before the arrest the police felt that "the culprit was someone on the list".
- A former detective reveals that when Satoru and Kumiko met in 1998, that's the moment Satoru found out that Kumiko's last name had changed to "Yasufuku" because of her marriage. As of now, we don't know her maiden name (doesn't really matter, I guess?).
- It seems like there have been no previous harassments or stalking from Kumiko towards Namiko. Satoru is also absolutely sure the two never met before, not to his knowledge at least.

The following is JMO, but overall, it seems like even though Kumiko was already married and had a child, she might have been triggered by something the year prior to the murder when she met Satoru at the alumni meeting. Satoru reported that she was going through an hard time with work.
I tend to agree with Satoru's belief that the two women did not meet each other before, Namiko was reportedly very careful in handling the door and she would mention a woman coming to visit her to the husband, wouldn't she?

Waiting for more news outlets to catch on these new few details to see if they get confirmed or not.
Possibly, today there's gonna be more information coming out throughout the day.

These are the same questions I have too.

If the two were not acquainted and had not met previously, according to Satoru, then why did Namiko let her into the apartment when she was alone with her baby, who was also sick with a fever at the time, if she was as cautious as reported? What could the suspect have said to convince her to let a stranger in?
It was reported Namiko was stabbed in the neck from behind at the washroom sink area, meaning she also felt comfortable enough to leave the suspect alone with baby Kohei? Very odd. I’m hoping we get an answer for this.
The alternative is that the suspect somehow snuck in and surprised Namiko or barged her way inside the door, I suppose.

There would have needed to be some kind of investigating from the suspect to find the Takaba’s apartment building and the exact one they lived to be able to turn up there with a knife. If the suspect did indeed live in the same house as she does now then the distance of 13km requires either 25 minutes of driving, 1+ hour of train travel, or 3+ hours of walking to reach. The nameplate on the house reads 安福 (Yasufuku) so she has been living there since at least her marriage and name change. Satoru insists his wife had never met or knew the suspect, at least to his knowledge, but if Namiko was indeed the intended target then I find it a little difficult to believe that there was not any kind of stalking or interaction between the two at all. Even the baby Kohei said so, that his mother died after a fight with the convenience store lady, but that is of course the words of a 3 year old that the police had discounted in the past.

Out of interest here are the marked points in red of the apartment, the park where the blood stains abruptly stopped, and the suspect’s house.

All JMO. I hope the information keeps flowing in.

 

[Eliver]

These are the same questions I have too.

If the two were not acquainted and had not met previously, according to Satoru, then why did Namiko let her into the apartment when she was alone with her baby, who was also sick with a fever at the time, if she was as cautious as reported? What could the suspect have said to convince her to let a stranger in?
It was reported Namiko was stabbed in the neck from behind at the washroom sink area, meaning she also felt comfortable enough to leave the suspect alone with baby Kohei? Very odd. I’m hoping we get an answer for this.
The alternative is that the suspect somehow snuck in and surprised Namiko or barged her way inside the door, I suppose.

There would have needed to be some kind of investigating from the suspect to find the Takaba’s apartment building and the exact one they lived to be able to turn up there with a knife. If the suspect did indeed live in the same house as she does now then the distance of 13km requires either 25 minutes of driving, 1+ hour of train travel, or 3+ hours of walking to reach. The nameplate on the house reads 安福 (Yasufuku) so she has been living there since at least her marriage and name change. Satoru insists his wife had never met or knew the suspect, at least to his knowledge, but if Namiko was indeed the intended target then I find it a little difficult to believe that there was not any kind of stalking or interaction between the two at all. Even the baby Kohei said so, that his mother died after a fight with the convenience store lady, but that is of course the words of a 3 year old that the police had discounted in the past.

Out of interest here are the marked points in red of the apartment, the park where the blood stains abruptly stopped, and the suspect’s house.

All JMO. I hope the information keeps flowing in.

View attachment 622906

To add to this, there was also that beverage on the table that Satoru has always been adamant was not from the house.
I believe the suspect either made some excuse and introduced herself as her husband's acquaintance (even mentioning the high schools years perhaps?) or they did meet at a convenience store and had some kind of interaction (maybe she was a clerk?), not to the point of being worth mentioning but enough to make Namiko feel at ease with her.

I'm sure by now the police must know all these details and if they decide to share them it will only be a matter of time.