Kobe Freezer Murder Case: 14 Years, $240,000 Spent to Hide Body, Exposed by Unpaid Electricity Bill

(CNA Tokyo, July 8) A woman in Kobe, Japan, is suspected of dismembering and hiding her ex-husband's body in a freezer for 14 years, continuously paying rent and electricity for the apartment. The rent alone cost nearly 12 million yen (approximately NT$2.4 million). Unexpectedly, last year, due to insufficient bank account balance, the electricity payment stopped, the freezer lost power, and the decomposing body began to emit a foul odor, leading to the exposure of this 14-year-old murder case.

According to reports from Sankei Shimbun and Weekly Shincho, the Hyogo Prefectural Police are investigating that Aki Mochizuki, 50, rented the apartment in Kobe's Chuo Ward starting in July 2002 and lived there with her husband, Yutaka Nishiguchi, who was 7 years her senior. The freezer was purchased around August 2011.

A judicial autopsy has confirmed the deceased as Yutaka Nishiguchi, with an estimated time of death around December 2011, though the cause of death is still under investigation. Police believe she dismembered the body around 2012 and hid it in a large freezer. According to family registry data, the couple divorced in December 2012.

Although Mochizuki later moved out of the apartment, she retained the lease and left the furniture untouched, paying approximately 70,000 yen per month for rent and electricity for 14 years, accumulating nearly 12 million yen, in an attempt to keep the hiding place as it was and avoid detection.

Mochizuki confessed to the police that she alone dismembered and preserved the body in the freezer, and admitted to destroying the body, hinting at her involvement in her husband's murder. However, police remain skeptical about whether she could have completed the dismemberment alone. Bloodstains were collected from multiple locations in the apartment, and it is not ruled out that the dismemberment occurred in the bathroom.

Investigations show that starting in July of last year, the electricity bill for the apartment began to go unpaid, suspected to be due to insufficient funds in her bank account, leading to failed deductions. The power company subsequently sent a payment notice to the apartment's mailbox. However, as the mailboxes on the first floor had their locks replaced about three years prior, and Mochizuki did not have the new key, she could not retrieve the bill. The apartment's power was eventually cut off in mid-October last year.

After the freezer lost power, the body that had been preserved by freezing gradually began to decompose. Starting in March of this year, neighbors reported a pervasive odor from the apartment to the management company, but it wasn't until June that the management company reported it to the police. Police entered the premises on June 20 and discovered the dismembered body inside a large freezer next to the entrance, thus exposing the case.

Even more than a week after the incident, a strong stench still lingered in the surrounding area. Residents described it as "a smell that just wouldn't go away." Coupled with the apartment building's approximately 50-year age, "the odor had already permeated the entire building."

Police are also puzzled by the reason for Mochizuki's unpaid electricity bills. Investigations revealed that in recent years, she had been living in a high-end rental apartment near Shin-Kobe Station and Sannomiya business district, with a monthly rent of about 200,000 yen, suggesting she was not in financial distress. Some neighbors mentioned that Mochizuki had previously worked in the food service and nightlife industries, and maintained her appearance well. "Learning from the news that she is already 50 years old was truly surprising."

Forensic experts analyze that cases of female perpetrators dismembering male victims are quite rare in Japan, but not impossible. In such cases, the female perpetrator is usually acquainted with the male victim. However, in this case, the suspect could likely only cut the body into two parts, upper and lower, from the abdomen, and then freeze them separately in bags. From a psychological perspective, further cutting the body into smaller pieces would likely be very difficult. (Editor: Tian Ruihua) 1150708

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