Body Found in Kyoto Mountains Confirmed as Missing Boy

Kyoto, April 14 (Jiji Press)–The body found in the mountains of Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, on Monday has been identified through DNA analysis as that of a missing 11-year-old boy, investigative sources told Jiji Press on Tuesday. Yuki Adachi, a student at a local public elementary school, had been missing since March 23. The Kyoto prefectural police conducted a legal autopsy on Tuesday but could not determine the cause of death as considerable time is believed to have passed since the death, the sources said. The police also examined the site where the body was found. According to the prefectural police, the body was found lying face up in the mountains about 2 kilometers southwest of the elementary school at around 4:45 p.m. Monday. The body was wearing a dark blue fleece, a gray sweatshirt and beige pants, but no shoes. Adachi was wearing a black and gray fleece, a gray sweatshirt, chino pants and black sneakers on the day he went missing. The sweatshirt worn by the body and the one Adachi wore when he went missing both had a logo with the number 84, and the prefectural police said they were likely the same item. The prefectural police have deployed a total of 1,000 officers in the search for the boy. They found a black sneaker of the same manufacturer as those worn by Adachi on Sunday in the mountains about 6 km southwest of the school. On March 29, a relative of the boy found his yellow backpack in the mountains about 3 km west of the school. Adachi went missing after his father dropped him off near his elementary school around 8 a.m. on March 23. The school held a graduation ceremony that day, and his homeroom teacher noticed his absence around 8:30 a.m. The teacher, however, did not contact his guardian until around 11:50 a.m., and his father filed a police report around noon. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]