A man arrested on suspicion of killing his 11-year-old adopted son in Kyoto Prefecture told investigators before his arrest that the boy had said to him, ※You＊re not my real dad!§ 〞 a remark police believe may have contributed to his motive for the murder, investigative sources said Friday.
Police arrested 37-year-old Y迂ki Adachi on Wednesday on suspicion of murdering the child, who was a fifth-grade student at Sonobe Elementary School in the city of Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture. He went missing in March, and his body was discovered the following month.
The case was sent to prosecutors on Friday.
According to investigators, Adachi has admitted to strangling the boy with his hands.
He told police during voluntary questioning before Wednesday＊s arrest that he strangled the child ※on impulse after getting angry with his behavior during an argument.§
Adachi is noted on the family register as the boy＊s adoptive father, according to investigators.
People familiar with the family said Adachi married the boy＊s mother last year and began living with them. He is believed to have formally adopted the child afterward. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, prefectural police learned from interviews with those who knew the family that the son and Adachi had been on bad terms for a while.
Police said Adachi left home by car with the child on the morning of March 23 to drive him to school. During the trip, the pair allegedly got into an argument.
Although Adachi drove near the school, investigators believe he did not let the boy out and instead headed to a public restroom, where he is suspected to have strangled the child to death.
Police allege that between March 23 and 24, Adachi moved the boy＊s body to at least three locations, including an area near mountains close to the family＊s home, a separate mountain area where the child＊s school backpack was later found and another location where shoes believed to have belonged to the boy were discovered during a search.
Investigators believe the body was later abandoned in a forested area about 8 kilometers northeast of the family home by the end of March. Adachi has also told police he ※disposed§ of the backpack and shoes.
The body was found in a wooded area in Nantan on April 13. Adachi was first arrested on April 16 on suspicion of abandoning a corpse before being rearrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder.
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