In May 1990, four-year-old Mami Matsuda was abducted in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, and found dead.
Toshikazu Sugaya was wrongly arrested in connection with the case, and a belated DNA retest overturned that judgment.
Why did the miscarriage of justice in one case lead people to revisit other unsolved cases in the northern Kanto region?
3-line summary
1. The Ashikaga Case was a miscarriage of justice revealed by DNA retesting.
2. Mr. Sugaya’s DNA profile differed from that of the perpetrator.
3. Whether the 5 cases involved the same perpetrator remains undetermined.
The Four-Year-Old Victim’s Case and DNA Retesting 17 Years Later
According to Bunchun Online, Mami Matsuda was abducted at a pachinko parlor in Ashikaga City in May 1990. The next day, her body was found in the riverbed of the nearby Watarase River.
The DNA profiling introduced by police at the time and a coerced confession were identified as the decisive grounds that led to Toshikazu Sugaya’s wrongful arrest. Mr. Sugaya maintained his innocence even while imprisoned. DNA retesting using the latest testing methods was conducted 17 years after his arrest, and it was confirmed that Mr. Sugaya’s DNA profile did not match the perpetrator’s DNA profile. This revealed that the case was a case resulting from a miscarriage of justice.
What is important here is that the expression “DNA testing” itself did not guarantee the accuracy of the judgment. The testing results and confession at the time changed one person’s life, but the retesting results showed that the two DNA profiles were different.
Five Cases Remaining in Ashikaga City and Ota City
The Ashikaga Case drew renewed attention to a series of child abduction and murder cases in northern Kanto. From 1979 through 1996, similar cases involving five young girls occurred in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, and neighboring Ota City, Gunma Prefecture.
In 1979, five-year-old Maya Fukushima was murdered in Ashikaga City, and in 1984, five-year-old Yumi Hasebe was murdered in the same city. In 1987, eight-year-old Tomoko Osawa was murdered in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, followed by the 1990 case involving Mami Matsuda. In 1996, four-year-old Yukari Yokoyama went missing in Ota City.
According to a Yahoo! News report, all 5 cases remain unsolved. Commonalities cited include the fact that the victims were young girls, that 3 of the cases involved pachinko parlors as the abduction site, that 3 involved riverbeds as the place where the victims were left, and that the incidents occurred on holidays or weekends.
However, it cannot be confirmed that all five cases were committed by one person. Japan’s National Police Agency was also reported to hold the position that the possibility of the same perpetrator cannot be ruled out. The retesting in the Ashikaga Case did more than correct an erroneous investigation in one case; it left a reason to revisit the cases of victims whose cases remain unresolved.
References
Tags #AshikagaCase #足利事件 #DNAProfiling #DNARetesting #MiscarriageOfJustice #ToshikazuSugaya #NorthernKantoSeriesOfChildAbductionAndMurderCases #UnsolvedCase #MamiMatsuda #WataraseRiver #AshikagaCity #OtaCityGunmaPrefecture