Company boss held on suspicion of abandoning father's body at storage site
Police have arrested the president of a construction firm for allegedly abandoning the body of his father at a materials storage yard in the city of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Ryuma Hanayama, 46, was taken into custody on Wednesday on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. 'I didn't do it,' he reportedly told investigators, denying the allegations.
According to police, Hanayama is suspected of burying the body of his 87-year-old father, Ryuichi, sometime between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on April 18 at a storage site owned by the civil engineering and construction company he runs in the city's Kokuraminami Ward.
The older man had been missing since April 17. He lived alone and was last seen returning home in his own car at around 3 p.m. that day. A relative filed a missing person's report with the Fukuoka Prefectural Police on April 18.
Using surveillance footage, investigators later identified a suspicious vehicle — believed to have been used to transport Ryuichi Hanayama — that traveled from near his home to the storage site.
Police searched the storage site on Tuesday and discovered his body buried underground, wrapped in what appeared to be a plastic sheet.
A preliminary examination found no obvious external injuries on the body. Authorities plan to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Police noted there had been prior disputes between the suspect and his father, and they are investigating the case to determine whether murder was involved.
Translated by The Japan Times
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