Court Proceedings Continue in Ibaraki Case as Defendant Maintains Not-Guilty Claim

Requested a woman to film sexual acts with him

Up to April 2026, FRIDAY Digital follows up on previously reported incident articles in its series “[Incident Afterwards]”. This time, it covers the “Ibaraki Woman Confinement and Murder Case,” in which a woman’s body was found in a forest in June 2022, and a 37-year-old man has been charged with murder and disposal of a corpse. This report presents the aftermath of the trial by partially quoting an article that reported the first hearing on February 18 (text in 《 》 is quoted from the original article).

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In June 2022, the body of a woman in her 20s from Tokyo (Ms. A, then 23) was found in a forested area in Hitachiota City, Ibaraki Prefecture. In this case, Hiroyuki Sanpei (37) was charged with murder and abandonment of a corpse for killing Ms. A inside a villa he owned in the same city and disposing of her body on a forest slope.

Sanpei met Ms. A via social media between mid-February and late May 2022 and requested her cooperation for a photo shoot. The shoot was scheduled for June 5. It was reportedly only their second meeting. On the day, they met up at Mito Station, but after that day, contact with Ms. A was lost.

Shortly after the case came to light, FRIDAY conducted interviews around the villa that became the scene of the incident. A man living nearby spoke with confusion:

“They kept a small dog indoors, and the husband (Sanpei) would hold it, and they would walk the dog together. He built a wooden deck himself, and I once saw them sitting there having tea together at a white table and chairs with his wife. They seemed like a married couple with a good relationship, and I thought they looked quite refined.”

However, on the morning of June 13, the police suddenly arrived.

“They pointed at the villa and said, ‘This location may become a crime scene, so we need to set up a cordon.’ When I looked, about 20 investigators were in front of the villa, poking the yard with long poles. They even removed the wooden deck and poked the soil underneath it. There were about six shovels placed in front of the villa, so it clearly seemed like something might be buried there. I thought this was extraordinary.”

On February 17, 2026, the first hearing was held at the Tokyo District Court, where Sanpei denied the charges, stating, “Everything is false,” and pleaded not guilty.

《According to reports, Sanpei and Ms. A met through social media. In court, the prosecution argued the following, claiming the murder charge applied: “He requested that the woman allow filming of sexual acts with him. After filming, he strangled her to death.” “The last confirmed time the woman was alive is in a video filmed by Sanpei.”

Meanwhile, the defense argued: “The woman participated in the filming with her consent, and there was no conflict between the two,” and “There is no direct evidence that he killed the woman and disposed of the body.” It is said that Sanpei will remain silent during future proceedings.” (Judicial reporter, national newspaper)》

During the trial, what happened inside the villa was gradually revealed.

It was established that the defendant committed the murder

“While filming videos with Ms. A, Sanpei made various requests, but Ms. A gently refused them. During this time, Ms. A was exchanging messages with an acquaintance on her smartphone, after which she stopped responding.

It is believed that the last confirmed sighting of Ms. A alive was shortly after 12:30 p.m., when filming ended and she was found in the basement of the villa lying face down, completely naked, with handcuffs on both wrists,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs desk.

Based on this, the prosecutor argued that Sanpei strangled Ms. A inside the villa and killed her.

“Around 1:30 p.m., footage from a dashcam reportedly recorded the rear cargo door of a vehicle prepared by Sanpei opening, and the body of Ms. A, who was naked, being loaded into the cargo area,” the same reporter said.

At the sentencing hearing on February 26, the prosecution demanded 20 years in prison, stating that the crime was committed with strong intent to kill and involved both murder and disposal of the body, and described it as an extremely cruel, merciless, and vicious offense.

In response, the defense argued that the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution, including dashcam footage, was not sufficient to prove the defendant’s guilt, and insisted that a miscarriage of justice must never happen.

On March 10, Judge Naotaka Nakagawa ruled that there is no reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the murder, and sentenced Sanpei to 20 years in prison.

After initially pleading not guilty at the first hearing, stating everything is false, Sanpei continued to remain silent, and no defendant questioning was conducted. The trial concluded without him ever speaking about the incident. Although he had also remained silent during police interrogation after his arrest, even four years later, he had not changed that stance.

Sanpei appealed the first-instance verdict. It remains to be seen what judgment the higher court will reach.

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