Chapter 5 – Investigation (2)

The detectives began to enter one by one into the investigators’ headquarters, this signaled the start of the first investigative meeting. The hall was filled with regional detectives and detectives from the Central Police Department 1.

“Alright, I’ll explain the outline of the case,” the Head of Department 1, Satoda, who held a mic in front of the hall next to the screen said.

“The victim’s name is Yaguchi Yukio, he’s four years old. Yukio is the eldest son of Yaguchi Masatohi and Akiyo, he’s a second year student in the Nousagi Play Group, Aiide city.

“The body was found on the banks of the Aiide River, under the Aiidegawa bridge, a rather deserted place. The body was covered with cardboard in the middle of the grass near the river. Today, on the 15th around 5:30 a.m, the body was finally found after the cardboard was moved by a woman who walked past the area, she felt strange since her dog kept barking in that specific area.

“The victim disappeared yesterday at five in the afternoon. He was with his mother at the supermarket. There was only a few seconds gap when his mother wasn’t paying attention to him since she was paying for the groceries at the cashier, during that time-frame, the child disappeared. The name of the supermarket is Suns Mart, Aiide city branch. It’s a medium-sized supermarket whose branch is spread around the Kanto area, the supermarket has two floors with a parking area underground. Yukio’s house is only a ten-minute walk from the supermarket.

“After the mother noticed that her child disappeared, she told the supermarket staff and they began to search within the supermarket’s vicinity. When they failed to find him, they called 110. After the police came, they also failed to find the child. Hm… the one who investigated this incident was… “

A detective who was sitting suddenly stood up.

“I already investigated Suns Mart, after asking questions with several employees and customers there. I couldn’t get a specific time when the victim was last seen. This was because there were plenty of children in the supermarket who looked like him. The security video also shows that the boy arrived at the supermarket in the afternoon at 16:32 with his mother. He went out alone through the door in front of the cashier at 17:03. When they were shopping, he could be clearly seen on video, however, there was no one who looked suspicious around him. Therefore, we conclude that the child came out of the supermarket with his own free will. He was then kidnapped by the perpetrator. The victim’s mother searched for him at around 17:06, three minutes later after the child went out of the door.”

“By then, Yukio disappeared?” Satoda asked.

“That’s correct.”

The entire thing only took around 2-3 minutes. The mother must have really regretted what happened. As he thought about the situation, a bitter feeling rose up in Sakaguchi’s chest.

“Are there any cameras outside the supermarket?” Satoda asked another question.

“There aren’t  any cameras. Given the small amount of time the victim disappeared, the culprit might have been using a car to transport him. “

“In that case, how about security cameras around the supermarket? Who’s in charge of investigating those?”

“I’m the one who investigated that matter.” A young detective stood up. “There are two mini-markets and three parking lots within a radius of five kilometers from the supermarket. We’re currently requesting the recordings of these places. We’re also looking for houses around the supermarket that have their own CCTV.”

“Understood. We’re moving on to the state of the body. Forensics, please.”

A forensic officer stood up. The hall suddenly became quiet when a photo was displayed on the screen.

The body on the screen was completely naked. The victim’s frail body was laying on his back on a cardboard box. His eyes were closed, and there was no trace of blood. His whole body was also pale-bluish. It looked like the victim was sleeping. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that the victim’s lower body was missing something. They found that the child’s genitals were gone.

“Alright, please give us the details.”

After Satoda allowed him to talk, the forensic officer began to describe the picture.

“As you all are seeing, the victim’s genitals were cut off. The cutting tool is currently being analyzed. However, just by seeing the wound, I can confirm that what was used was a very sharp object. Next, you can see the wound in his rectum, we can say that the perpetrator sexually tortured him after killing the victim. We couldn’t find the perpetrator’s body fluids from either inside the rectum or anywhere in the victim’s body. However, we were able to find glycerol and propylene glycol, this is the type of liquid that can be found on lubricants. Therefore, the possibility that the offender used a condom during the sexual assault is very high.”