Overview
- Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police said they sent a case file to prosecutors naming Yuka Nomura, who is deceased, on suspicion of killing her partner and three sons, a step in Japan known as shorui soken that records findings rather than leading to trial.
- Investigators say Nomura fatally stabbed her partner, Shintaro Nakakubo, in a Nerima apartment on December 15, 2025, hid his body in a closet, and four days later killed her sons, ages 16, 11, and 9, at the family home in Nishitokyo.
- The case surfaced after her husband returned home, saw the front door chain set, called police, and officers later found Nakakubo’s body in a separate unit Nomura had rented, with a breakup dispute cited by investigators as a possible motive.
- In a separate development, police arrested Nobuaki Takahashi on suspicion of killing his then-partner, Kumi Valetta, in a Roppongi apartment in October 2018, with investigators pointing to a blunt object found at the scene as a possible weapon.
- Police say Takahashi left for Malaysia after the 2018 killing, local authorities later detained him, and Tokyo detectives executed a Japanese arrest warrant when he was returned, reflecting close cooperation with foreign counterparts.