“I Was Hungry” — The Shocking Alleged Crime of a Vietnamese Suspect Accused of Killing a 91-Year-Old Woman

91-year-old woman goes missing

“I broke in to steal because I was hungry. I killed her because she happened to be there.”

The 33-year-old Vietnamese man who was rearrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of a 91-year-old woman in the mountains reportedly used the words “I killed her,” during questioning.

“On August 12, the Saitama Prefectural Police’s First Investigative Division and Sayama Police Station rearrested Pham Cao Lien Cong (33), a Vietnamese national with no fixed address and no occupation, on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. He is suspected of abandoning the body of Kinuko Maruyama (91), who lived in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture, in a wooded area in Azu, Hanno City.

Pham admitted to the allegations, saying, ‘I dumped the body of Maruyama, whom I killed, in the mountains.’ He also reportedly said, ‘I thought someone would find out if I left the body (at Maruyama’s house), so I took it (by car) and dumped it.’ There were no noticeable external injuries on Maruyama’s body, which had been wrapped in a blanket.

Pham had previously been arrested in the act on July 31 on suspicion of trespassing. At the time of his arrest, he had no valid status of residence and reportedly had only several thousand yen in cash on him.” (Reporter for the social affairs department of a national newspaper)

On August 14, Pham was handed over to prosecutors. At around 8 a.m., Cong appeared at the vehicle entrance of Sayama Police Station. He did not look at the assembled photographers even once. Staring blankly straight ahead, he got into the police transport vehicle.

At around 9 a.m. on July 31, when a staff member from a day-care service visited Maruyama’s home, she was nowhere to be found and the front door was unlocked. After being contacted, Maruyama’s eldest son reported that we can no longer determine the whereabouts of my mother, who lives alone. When police officers arrived, they discovered that a kei passenger car registered in the eldest son’s name was missing from the property, despite Maruyama not having a driver’s license. The last time Maruyama was confirmed to be alive was around 5 p.m. on July 29, when she was dropped off at home by the day-care service’s vehicle.

A woman who lives nearby recalled what happened when Maruyama went missing.

“I learned about it through the community disaster-prevention broadcast saying, ‘The whereabouts of Kinuko Maruyama are unknown.’ After that, the police came to my house and asked if they could see our security camera footage. Maruyama’s legs had apparently become weak, and I hadn’t seen her outside very often lately. I was worried about where she could have gone.”

As police continued their desperate search, Pham was arrested after causing a rear-end collision while driving the kei car stolen from Maruyama’s home in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture.

“Shortly after 6 p.m. on the 31st, police officers spotted the kei car driven by Pham in Fujimi. When they ordered him to stop, he fled and caused an accident, crashing into three cars waiting at a traffic light. Pham then abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot, eventually entering the grounds of a nearby private residence. Police officers subsequently found him hiding there and arrested him in the act on suspicion of trespassing.” (The aforementioned social affairs reporter)

During police questioning, Pham reportedly stated, “I strangled and killed a woman in the house I broke into to steal from, and abandoned her body in a wooded area,” or words to that effect. As a result, at around 9 p.m. on August 1, police officers discovered Maruyama’s body in a wooded area of Hanno City.

The inexplicably reckless nature of the crime

Meanwhile, police had reportedly begun investigating around Maruyama’s home on the morning of the 1st.

“There were two or three police vehicles parked in front of Maruyama’s house, and a police cordon had been put up. Several forensic investigators were walking around, so I realized that something serious had happened. The following day, the 2nd, the police came and asked me things like, ‘Did you hear any suspicious noises?’ and ‘Are there a lot of foreigners living around here?’” (Woman living nearby)

Maruyama had been living alone since her husband passed away about two or three years ago. Her home was in a quiet residential neighborhood, where many residents had built their houses and settled there some 50 years ago.

A man who said he had been childhood friends with Maruyama’s eldest son prefaced his remarks by saying, “I haven’t seen her in years,” before describing his impression of Maruyama.

“In a word, she was ‘haikara’—stylish and sophisticated. The clothes she wore and her overall demeanor were different from those of the other mothers around her; she was an elegant, fashionable woman. When I went to visit her house, she would sometimes serve me unusual Western-style sweets.

“I had heard that she hadn’t been going out much recently because her legs and lower back had become weak. However, someone who had seen her recently said that she had been walking with a broom as a cane, so I thought she wasn’t yet at the point where she needed a cane all the time and was still doing quite well.”

Another woman around Maruyama’s age said, “We used to see each other often through neighborhood association activities and the like. But recently, going out had become a hassle for both of us, so we would call each other and exchange updates, saying things like, ‘How are you?’ and ‘How have you been lately?’”

It remains unclear why Pham came to this neighborhood, but he has reportedly told police that he entered other houses in the area as well.

He broke into a house to steal because he was hungry, then killed Maruyama, the resident who happened to be there. To avoid being discovered, he stole the car that was at the house and used it to transport her body to a wooded area, where he abandoned it. He then continued driving the stolen vehicle, and when police spotted him, he abandoned the car and fled, hiding on the grounds of a nearby private residence. The series of crimes committed by Pham appears almost completely impulsive and reckless, as though he simply acted on the spur of the moment.

A man living nearby was also baffled by the audacity of Pham’s crime.

“At Maruyama’s house, you have to first exit through the front door and walk down the stairs before you can get to the garage, so you’re completely visible from outside during that time. That means the perpetrator came outside while carrying Maruyama’s body, right? I’m amazed he could do something so brazen.”

On August 3, the Saitama Prefectural Police established a special investigative unit of 50 officers at Sayama Police Station. They reportedly plan to continue the investigation with murder and robbery-murder among the possibilities.

It appears it will still take considerable time before the full picture of the crime becomes clear.

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