26-Year arrest reignites hope for families of Japan’s unsolved murder victims

AICHI (TR) – The arrest of a suspect in the 1999 murder of a Nagoya housewife, nearly 26 years after her death, has sent a jolt of hope through the families of victims in other unsolved killings across Aichi Prefecture, with relatives vowing to keep fighting and police promising to never give up the hunt, reports Jiji Press (Oct. 31).

Among those watching with tearful relief was Toshi Amami, 64, elder sister of Tosiyo Kato, who was murdered alongside her three children in September 2004 at the family home of husband Hiroto Kato , 67, in Toyoake City, Aichi.

The house was also set ablaze. That case remains unsolved more than 22 years on, yet Amami has spent every year since distributing flyers in search of answers. When news of the Nagoya arrest broke last year, she said she cried out in shock. “It was like sunshine blazing down, a light of hope so bright it burned,” she recalled. “I thought, let us ride that wind.” The arrest, she said, only steeled her resolve to honor the vow she made to her four murdered family members: to see the killer caught.

Toshiyo Kato and family (X)

Tsukasa Sugiura, 62, son of Katsuyo Sugiura, a 73-year-old farmer found strangled with a mobile phone charger cord at her home in Gamagori City, Aichi, in March 2016, said the Nagoya breakthrough had changed something in him. “It made me feel strongly that even unsolved cases can be cracked, that cold cases can finally come into the light,” he said.

Yet more than ten years have now passed since his mother’s death with no arrest. “The sadness never changes, but I want to know what happened,” he said. “I want police to keep working hard, and I want the public to take an interest in unsolved cases.”

Aichi Prefectural Police Homicide Division Chief Takumi Saito struck a defiant tone, vowing that investigators would press on. “We will continue our tenacious investigation with the determination to absolutely catch the perpetrator,” he said, according to local media. H

The chief also made a direct appeal to the public, urging anyone with information, however trivial it might seem, to come forward.

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爱知县（TR）——1999年名古屋一名家庭主妇遇害案的嫌疑人在受害者去世近26年后落网，这给爱知县其他未破凶杀案的受害者家属带来了希望，家属们誓言继续抗争，警方也承诺永不放弃追捕。据时事通讯社（10月31日）报道。

观看直播的人群中，有64岁的天海敏子，她是加藤俊代的姐姐。2004年9月，加藤俊代和她的三个孩子在爱知县丰明市丈夫加藤弘人的家中被杀害。

那栋房子也被纵火焚烧。这起案件至今已过去22年多，仍未侦破，但阿玛米每年都坚持散发传单，寻找答案。去年名古屋逮捕的消息传出时，她说自己震惊得哭了出来。“就像阳光普照大地，希望之光如此耀眼，仿佛要灼伤人心，”她回忆道，“我想，就让我们乘着这股风势前进吧。”她说，这次逮捕更加坚定了她履行对四位遇害家人许下的誓言的决心：一定要将凶手绳之以法。

加藤俊世和家人 (X)

62岁的杉浦司是73岁农民杉浦胜代的儿子，她于2016年3月在爱知县蒲郡市的家中被发现遭手机充电线勒死。杉浦司说，名古屋的突破改变了他。“这让我强烈地感受到，即使是悬案也能被破解，冷案最终也能重见天日。”他说。

然而，母亲去世至今已超过十年，却仍未有人被捕。“悲伤从未消散，但我渴望知道真相，”他说。“我希望警方继续努力，也希望公众关注未破案件。”

爱知县警察厅凶杀科科长斋藤匠语气坚定，誓言调查人员将继续推进调查。据当地媒体报道，他表示：“我们将继续坚持不懈地调查，决心将罪犯绳之以法。”

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