Police on Wednesday morning raided the family home of an 11-year-old boy who was found dead two days before in the mountains of Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture.
Elementary school student Yuki Adachi had been missing since March 23, and after over three weeks of searching in the area, with around 1,000 people involved, a body was found on Monday.
On Tuesday, based on autopsy results, the police identified the body as Adachi¡¯s and said he had died sometime late last month. The exact cause of death remains unknown, with the body having no noticeable injuries and no significant damage found on his clothing, authorities said.
Police apparently decided a house raid was necessary based on evidence collected so far in the case.
The body was found lying face up in the mountains, 2 kilometers southwest of the school he attended, and more than 10 km from his home, with no signs of it having been buried at any point.
The clothing on the body matched what Adachi was wearing on the day of his disappearance but without shoes. A pair of black sneakers thought to belong to Adachi was found on Sunday in the mountains about 6 km southwest of his school.
Adachi¡¯s yellow backpack was found on March 29 by one of his relatives who took part in the search efforts. It was discovered in the mountains some 3 km west of the school, a fact that shocked the chief of the local fire department as it was an area that had been combed through multiple times by the investigation in the days prior, with nothing having been found earlier.
Both pieces of evidence and Adachi¡¯s body were all found at a significant distance from one another.
Given that the location where the body was found is considered to be difficult for a child to navigate, especially without any shoes on, investigators are probing the case for criminal elements.
According to police, Adachi went missing on the morning of March 23 after his father dropped him off near his school to attend a graduation ceremony. The school first noticed he was missing when he was not present when attendance was taken.
After the school informed his parents of his absence, his father filed a missing person¡¯s report to the police. No one had seen Adachi on the school¡¯s premises that day, and he was not captured on any of the building¡¯s security cameras.
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