AICHI (TR) – On September 9, 2004, an unknown perpetrator fatally stabbed Toshiyo Kato, then 38 years outdated, and her three youngsters inside their dwelling within the city of Kutsukake, Toyoake Metropolis. The perpetrator then set the house ablaze.
The case stays unsolved.
The twentieth anniversary of the incident will happen on Monday. Final Friday, the Toyoake Metropolis Corridor started a weeklong exhibition that options about 30 gadgets associated to the incident, together with pictures of the 4 who died and pamphlets which were distributed in an try to lift consciousness with the general public that the perpetrator stays at giant.
“By holding an exhibition like this in Toyoake, we are able to forestall the incident from being forgotten,” stated Toshiyo’s sister, Amami, experiences Fuji Information Community (Sep. 8). “We’re grateful that [the city] agreed to carry the exhibition. This manner, we are able to forestall [this murder] from occurring once more.”
Amami was amongst about 40 folks, together with law enforcement officials, who distributed tissue packs with data on the case at a shopping mall close to the crime scene on Sunday.
Comparable occasions and memorials for the household have been held almost yearly for the reason that murders. Nevertheless, one individual has been conspicuously absent: Toshiyo’s husband, Hiroto Kato.
Because the incident happened twenty years in the past, Kato has remained within the shadows, refusing to take part. This, alongside together with his subsequent partaking within the pleasures of Nagoya’s nightlife quarters and arrest for fraud has raised various eyebrows about his guilt or innocence within the murders.
“Time-delay gadget comprised of mosquito coils”
The incident occurred at round 4:25 a.m. on September 9, 2004, when a fireplace broke out on the dwelling. The our bodies of Toshiyo, eldest son Yuki, then 15, eldest daughter Rina, 13, and second son Shogo, 9, had been discovered within the ruins. All 4 had been stabbed with a knife.
“The perpetrator scattered kerosene and used a time-delay gadget comprised of mosquito coils,” an investigator tells the location for weekly tabloid Flash. The fireplace ignited a while after the murders, so it’s doable that he had fastidiously constructed an alibi.”
Hiroto Kato was working the evening shift on the time of the homicide and was not at dwelling. Since there have been virtually no indicators that the house had been ransacked, Aichi Prefectural Police started an investigation beneath the belief that the murders had been motivated by a grudge.
Tens of hundreds of police man-hours have been devoted to the case and 193 items of knowledge have been acquired, however no helpful data has led to the arrest of the perpetrator.
Annual memorial providers have been held on the day of the incident on the web site of the home the place the crime occurred. Members of the family and investigators from the Aichi Prefectural Police have participated.
To date, Kato has by no means proven up, regardless of dwelling close to the crime scene.
“It’s comprehensible that he wouldn’t attend, for instance, as a result of he has numerous emotions, akin to desirous to overlook in regards to the incident, however…” the identical investigator continues.
“Put her youngsters first”
Amami usually finds herself talking in tender tones to the portraits of her deceased sister and three youngsters lined up on a Buddhist altar at her dwelling in Aichi Prefecture.
Each morning, she affords the kids milk, which they beloved, and iced espresso to Toshiyo. She additionally holds small gatherings on every of their birthdays.
On the birthday of the eldest son, Yuki, after the Obon competition, that they had a drink collectively in entrance of the Buddhist altar. Previously, he was solely offered juice, however now that he’s an grownup, he’s given beer. She additionally asks questions and makes requests. “Are you all doing nicely?” “Are the 4 of you collectively?” “Yuki, please defend your mom!”
Amami nonetheless treasures mementos from the household, together with Ultraman and Godzilla dolls, miniature vehicles, taking part in playing cards, footage and woodblock prints and Toshiyo’s maternal and little one well being handbooks.
The home the place the incident occurred was demolished two years after the incident, however Amami introduced the treasures again earlier than that. There have been scorched marks right here and there, conveying the horrific nature of what had transpired.
Amami, who has three youngsters herself, was 4 years older than Toshiyo. Inseparable, they exchanged emails and cellphone calls 10 occasions a day.
“Toshiyo at all times put her youngsters first,” she tearfully tells Flash, “so I’m wondering what she was pondering when she handed away. I feel she will need to have needed to assist them. She and I had been actually shut. So proper after the incident, I felt like I had a giant gap in my physique.”
“I would like him to place his life on the road to search out the perpetrator”
The day of the incident was Shogo’s birthday. Nevertheless, that day by no means got here for him.
“The youngsters’s desires and hopes had been taken away from them after they had been simply beginning out in life,” Amami says. “If the perpetrator shouldn’t be caught, these youngsters won’t ever come of age. So I have to know the reason for the incident. In any other case, I received’t be capable to see Toshiyo and her youngsters after I go to the opposite facet.”
Inspired by her youngsters, Amami started to offer interviews to the media and distribute flyers on the streets. 5 years after the incident, she requested the Aichi Prefectural Police to carry a memorial service. This was attended by members of the Sora no Kai, a Tokyo-based group composed of the households of homicide victims.
Amami finds it curious that Hiroto doesn’t attend these gatherings.
“I heard by the grapevine that he thought he had no position to play as a result of I used to be taking motion,” Amami says. “I really feel the distinction of their emotions. As the daddy of the three youngsters, I would like him to place his life on the road to search out the perpetrator.”
“Husband had a mistress”
The connection between Toshiyo and Hiroto was sophisticated earlier than the incident.
“In reality, [Hiroto] had not been round for a number of years earlier than the incident,” Amami says. “Divorce was looming, and Toshiyo was frightened about how you can dwell with three youngsters. However she believed that her husband would return to his variety former variety self.”
That isn’t all.
“On the time of the incident, the husband had a mistress,” the aforementioned investigator reveals. “He frequented nightlife spots and wasted some huge cash. He bought into debt, and was arrested for swindling cash from the corporate the place she labored.”
In March 2005, six months after the incident, Kato was arrested by the Aichi Prefectural Police on suspicion of fraud for allegedly swindling about 5.2 million yen in money by promoting a pc that he had obtained illegally at his office.
As well as, it was found that he had acquired money by putting inflated orders for machine instruments from a buying and selling firm, and the full quantity stolen, together with gross sales for the aforementioned computer systems, got here to about 13 million yen.
On the time, Kato was keen on a number of unique members-only golf equipment in Nishiki, Nagoya. He additionally started dwelling with a hostess he had met.
Though he earned greater than 10 million yen a yr, he started to battle to pay for dwelling bills along with overlaying outlays for the hostess. So, he turned to shopper loans. With a view to repay his mounting money owed, he deliberate to promote the computer systems on the black market.
“Given a polygraph check”
On the first listening to on the Nagoya District Courtroom, Hiroto totally admitted to the costs.
“The fraud case was a separate case, and the principle concern was the connection to the murder-arson case,” an individual concerned within the investigation explains.
Nevertheless, that connection was by no means made, and the police acquired substantial criticism for that. The Nagoya District Courtroom subsequently sentenced Kato, who was charged with fraud, to 3 years in jail, a sentence that was suspended for 4 years.
At a press convention afterwards, Hiroto expressed his gratitude for the lenient sentence and likewise talked about the arson and homicide case. “I used to be investigated by the police as a suspect, though I had nothing to do with it,” he stated. “I used to be additionally given a polygraph [lie detector] check. It’s unlucky that some experiences have made it appear as if I used to be concerned.”
Since then, Hiroto has not been seen in public.
“Gave cash to ladies”
Kato now lives together with his kin in a nook of a residential space inside strolling distance of the crime scene. The home has a foremost dwelling and a indifferent home, the place he resides by himself.
A reporter for Flash visited Kato at evening on a day in 2021 simply as he was returning dwelling. After the reporter referred to as out to him, Kato appeared within the pitch black entrance corridor with quick hair and vivid, darkish eyes. The reporter revealed that he works for the weekly tabloid.
“I’ve nothing to say,” Kato stated. “For those who take a look at the articles you’ve written up till now, I don’t wish to say something.”
Nevertheless, after the reporter defined the gist of the interview, Kato loosened up letting it slip in regards to the fraud case and his affair.
“I’ve paid for the pc [fraud],” Kato stated. “Effectively, dishonest is against the law, should you like. I inflated the payments at work and bought kickbacks. I had enjoyable within the nightlife quarters and gave cash to ladies. For those who learn an article about that, you’d assume there was one thing else [connecting me to that murder-arson case], proper? So there’s no level in saying something anymore.”
Kato’s eyes didn’t wander. He remained calm. He defined why he spent a lot time within the nightlife quarters: “It was simply enjoyable to have enjoyable. That’s all. I used to be pampered. Wanting again now, I feel it was silly. I’ll at all times give it some thought. I used to be addicted on the time. As a result of I had [more than one hostess].”
When the reporter tried to ask him about his emotions in additional element, his voice sounded irritated. He stated, “It doesn’t matter what folks say to me, the mere point out of my dishonest previous appears like, ‘It’s all of your fault. That’s why [the murder-arson case] occurred. Do you perceive?’”
Relating to whether or not there was any connection to the murder-arson case, Kato stated, “There’s no approach.” And with a fearless smile he added sarcastically, “I can’t say there’s no approach. With the facility of the pen, you’ll be able to flip white into black, proper?”
When requested if he hoped for the perpetrator to be arrested quickly, he nodded barely. “Sure,” he stated.
“That’s one thing we have now to go away to the police. If the perpetrator is arrested and we are able to put an finish to this, I feel the previous [that was made a big deal by the media] will most likely turn out to be irrelevant. I’m getting outdated, so I wish to spend my time peacefully.”
After speaking for about an hour, the reporter left. As he did, Kato stated calmly, “If that is an interview, then all the things I’ve stated here’s a lie.”
