A Model Salesman With a Hidden Side? The Two Faces of the Nara Mother-Daughter Case Suspect

He allegedly put the two women in his car, transported them, and abandoned them

In the case involving the abandonment of two bodies in the mountains of Nara City, Mie Prefectural Police announced on July 31 that the second unidentified body had been identified as Rion Ikeda (20), a university student and the eldest daughter of Sonomi Ikeda (44) of Iga City, Mie Prefecture. The first body had been identified as Sonomi. The arrested company employee, Takahiro Imakita (37), was reportedly having an affair with Sonomi despite having a wife and family.

The case began to move forward in May this year, when Iga City asked police to check on the welfare of the Ikeda mother and daughter. As Mie Prefectural Police investigated, they discovered that the two had been missing since early February.

“It was established that the mother and daughter had been with Imakita on February 9. At the time, Sonomi was preparing to file a police report concerning another suspicious incident. But from the following day, February 10, neither mother nor daughter could be contacted.

Police carefully questioned Imakita, whose name had come up as Sonomi’s romantic partner. Imakita had a wife and three children, but he was believed to have frequently visited the Ikeda home and continued his affair with Sonomi. Then, on July 17, during questioning, Imakita began making statements to the effect that he had put the two women in his car, transported them, and abandoned them,” says a reporter from the social affairs desk of a national newspaper.

Following his statements, police searched a grassy area along the Nabari River near Tsukigase Oyama in Nara City and discovered the bodies of two women wrapped in plastic sheets. Police immediately arrested Imakita on suspicion of abandoning corpses and established a special investigation team. One body was identified as Sonomi Ikeda on July 18, followed by the formal identification of the second as her eldest daughter, Rion, on July 31.

While Imakita is alleged to have been involved in a relationship with the mother and to have abandoned the bodies after the mother and daughter disappeared, what kind of person did those around him see in his everyday working life?

Imakita worked in delivery and sales for a company headquartered in Iga City that sells nursing-care equipment. Ikeda had also used a wheelchair in the past, and the two reportedly became acquainted through arrangements for such equipment.

Complaining about his wife

A person who had business dealings with suspect Imakita described their impression of him at the time:

“We exchanged business cards, but there was absolutely nothing suspicious or questionable about him. When he spoke, he answered promptly and efficiently, and my overall impression was that he was a very pleasant salesperson. Even when we contacted him regarding work, he was attentive and handled everything properly.”

A man in his 40s who worked in the same industry as Imakita and had worked with him several times said:

“He seemed serious about his work and was a cheerful person who always arrived at meetings on time. Even though we worked for different companies in the same industry, he would casually strike up conversations with me, and we went out for meals several times. When everyone was trying to take a group photo using the front-facing camera on a smartphone, he would often take the initiative to pull out his own phone and take the picture, joking around and making funny faces. However, his relationship with his wife did not seem to be particularly good, and I had heard him complain about her several times.”

People who knew Imakita in his younger days also described a personality that appears markedly different from the brutality of the alleged crime.

A man who knew Imakita when he attended vocational school recalled what he was like at the time:

“He was one year ahead of me in the motorcycle mechanics program. We knew each other by face and would have ordinary conversations. I remember that he competed in races individually and achieved fairly good results. At school, he never intimidated or lashed out at younger students, and I never saw the kind of violent behavior that has been reported about him. He wasn’t particularly hot-tempered, either, and I never heard anything about him being a womanizer or leading a wild lifestyle.”

The joint special investigation team formed by Mie and Nara prefectural police is stepping up its questioning of the suspect as it investigates what happened immediately after February 9, when Ikeda was reportedly preparing to file a police complaint over a dispute, as well as the specific circumstances that led to the deaths of the mother and daughter, their causes of death, and whether there were any disputes between the two parties related to the alleged affair.

Behind the suspect’s diligent demeanor at work was an ongoing extramarital relationship, followed by the sudden disappearance of the mother and daughter.

Investigators are now expected to shed light on the two sides of the suspect’s character and the motive behind the crime.