Authorities in Kyoto Prefecture are moving to arrest a man in his 30s after his 11-year-old son was found dead in a wooded area, according to reports from Kyoto Shimbun Digital. The father, identified as a company employee, has reportedly given statements admitting involvement in the abandonment of the body.
The victim, Yuki Adachi, a student at Sonobe Elementary School, was discovered on April 13, 2026, around 4:45 p.m. Police found the boy’s body lying on its back in a forest approximately 2 kilometers southwest of the school in Nantan City. The discovery follows a massive search operation involving roughly 1,000 police officers who combed the city and surrounding mountains.
Investigative leads pointed toward foul play early on. Officials noted that the boy was not wearing shoes when he was found, and his yellow school bag had been discovered in a separate location on March 29, about 3 kilometers west of the school. These discrepancies led police to suspect the body had been intentionally dumped. A forensic autopsy concluded that the boy likely died in late March, though the exact cause of death remains undetermined as no major injuries were reported.
The case stems from a disappearance that began on March 23, 2026. The father had previously told authorities that he drove Yuki to the school grounds around 8:00 a.m. That morning, and the boy vanished after stepping out of the car in front of the school’s after-school care facility. This timeline is now being scrutinized as police seek an arrest warrant on suspicion of abandonment of a corpse.
On the morning of April 15, 2026, Kyoto Prefectural Police conducted a search of the father’s residence and questioned him voluntarily. The shift from a missing persons case to a criminal investigation underscores the gravity of the evidence found at the scene and the subsequent admissions made by the suspect.
