Chizuko Okamoto
Encyclopedia
In 2005 at Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture
, Japan
, was murdered and her mother (born July 17, 1951) was later convicted of killing her own daughter
. Chizuko Okamoto was also suspected as a serial killer
who might have killed at least four others, but was not charged. Asahi Shimbun
described her mysterious incident as "house of horrors".
. She ran away from her first husband in 1975 and began a relationship with the man who would later become her common-law husband. Her first husband died in a tsunami
on Okushiri Island
in 1993.
Chizuko's six-year-old son, Toshihide, disappeared in 1984. She gave birth to two children in 1985 and 1987, but did not report their births. Her common-law husband died of illness in 1997. She began to insist that her disappeared son was abducted by agents of the North Korean government
.
on May 1, 2006. Upon investigation of the apartment, police discovered the remains of Toshihide and her two other newborns. The police also found a memo suggesting that Okamoto was the murderer, and, on May 3, 2006, she was arrested.
on the crime of abandoning a corpse had passed, no charges relating to the children were pursued.
During the trial, Chizuko Okamoto insisted on her innocence and claimed that Minehiro had killed Rikako. Despite a lack of admissible physical evidence and witnesses, Okamoto was convicted. On July 23, 2007, the Yokohama District Court sentenced her to 12 years in prison for the murder of her daughter.
Chizuko Okamoto appealed against the guilty verdict. Her appeal trial commenced in the Tokyo High Court
on May 8, 2008. The Tokyo High Court upheld her sentence on October 23, 2008.
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, was murdered and her mother (born July 17, 1951) was later convicted of killing her own daughter
Filicide
Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing his or her own son or daughter. The word filicide derives from the Latin words filius meaning "son" or filia meaning daughter and the suffix -cide meaning to kill, murder, or cause death...
. Chizuko Okamoto was also suspected as a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who might have killed at least four others, but was not charged. Asahi Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun
The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
described her mysterious incident as "house of horrors".
Background
Chizuko Okamoto was born in Aomori PrefectureAomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Aomori prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
. She ran away from her first husband in 1975 and began a relationship with the man who would later become her common-law husband. Her first husband died in a tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
on Okushiri Island
Okushiri Island
is an island in Hokkaidō, Japan. It has an area of . The town of Okushiri and Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park encompass the entire island.-History:It was the site of a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 1993....
in 1993.
Chizuko's six-year-old son, Toshihide, disappeared in 1984. She gave birth to two children in 1985 and 1987, but did not report their births. Her common-law husband died of illness in 1997. She began to insist that her disappeared son was abducted by agents of the North Korean government
North Korean abductions of Japanese
The abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan by agents of the North Korean government happened during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only 17 Japanese are officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted, there may have been as many as 70 to 80...
.
Murder and arrest
At the time, Chizuko Okamoto lived with her 35-year-old stepson Minehiro Yamauchi and her 19-year-old daughter Rikako. Her daughter died in October 2005, and Yamauchi died in March 2006. Yamauchi's mother found the bodies of her son and Rikako in Okamoto's apartment in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa PrefectureKanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
on May 1, 2006. Upon investigation of the apartment, police discovered the remains of Toshihide and her two other newborns. The police also found a memo suggesting that Okamoto was the murderer, and, on May 3, 2006, she was arrested.
Controversy and trial
The death of Minehiro Yamauchi was ruled a suicide. Autopsies performed on the bodies of the three children were inconclusive, and because the three-year statute of limitationsStatute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
on the crime of abandoning a corpse had passed, no charges relating to the children were pursued.
During the trial, Chizuko Okamoto insisted on her innocence and claimed that Minehiro had killed Rikako. Despite a lack of admissible physical evidence and witnesses, Okamoto was convicted. On July 23, 2007, the Yokohama District Court sentenced her to 12 years in prison for the murder of her daughter.
Chizuko Okamoto appealed against the guilty verdict. Her appeal trial commenced in the Tokyo High Court
Tokyo High Court
is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The Intellectual Property High Court is a special branch of Tokyo High Court....
on May 8, 2008. The Tokyo High Court upheld her sentence on October 23, 2008.
External links
- Flat full of bodies; mom guilty of killing daughter Japan Times July 24, 2007
- Son missing since '84 may be among bodies found in flat Japan Times May 5, 2006
- Japanese Wikipedia entry on the incident case