Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 229, The Tokyo Bay serial body dumping case solved! (Bonus chapter for 2k monthly votes!)
As Tokyo Marine Holdings sent Sasaki's photo, the sight of the tall, muscular man immediately brought back the familiar rhythm of Uesugi Muneyuki's crime-solving.

That's him!
That physique, those streamlined muscles—he's the murderer from the death flashback.

"Please immediately halt all salvage operations in Tokyo Bay and prioritize dispatching a salvage vessel to the accident site on Hakkeijima Island to retrieve the damaged vehicle." Uesugi Muneyuki stated in an unquestionable tone, "This person and this vehicle are highly suspected of committing the crime!"

"Huh?!" Tokyo Marine Holdings was completely bewildered by Uesugi Muneyuki: "But... Sasaki has already disappeared, and it's basically confirmed that he's dead!"

"This matter is complicated, and I can't explain it clearly for now. In short, just do as I say!" Uesugi Muneyuki said in an unquestionable tone: "Property insurance, 2300 billion, plus environmental protection policy, 1500 billion!"

“…Understood, I will notify my superiors immediately.” Upon hearing the figure of 2300 billion, Tokyo Marine Holdings remained silent for a moment, but Shibukawa on the other end quickly said, “Initiate the salvage operation immediately.”

Uesugi Muneyuki hung up the phone and said to everyone present, "We have a lead. Immediately notify everyone in the Special Investigation Headquarters to gather in the conference room of the Yokohama Mitsui Garden Hotel."

"Yes!"

Minami and Erina exchanged a glance. They could sense that Uesugi Muneyuki's mental state had changed after making that phone call!

The two women who had worked with him for so long naturally understood what was going on with his mental state.

Got it!

Half an hour later, a special joint investigation meeting was held in the conference room of the Yokohama Mitsui Garden Hotel.

Special Investigation Headquarters Chief of Investigation Section 1, Sugishita; Deputy Chief of Investigation, Higurashi; Section Chief of Section 1, Kosaka; Section Chief of Section 3, Kashiwagi; Section Chief of Section 4, Shimano; Section Chief of Section 5, Itami; and Special Missions Section, Minami, were all present.

Also present were Section Chief Kakuta from the team-up department and Ichijo, a management officer from the Public Security Department.

In addition, representatives from Nippon Life Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd., including Takeda, representative from Tokio Marine Holdings Ltd., Shibukawa, and representative from Sumitomo Mitsui Ltd., Sato, also attended.

In the opulent conference room of the hotel, Special Missions Forensic Officer Uesugi Muneyuki recounted the events in detail.

He first wrote several dates on the blackboard.

Late night on September 6 to early morning on September 7 – Aiko Igarashi experienced a medical emergency.

On September 7, Mitsui Group's team building event discovered that Aiko was missing—a report was filed, and the Kanagawa police launched an investigation.

On September 10, Executive Director Sato was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a bloodstain DNA test.

On September 12, Sasaki, who was injured in a minor collision with Aiko Igarashi a month earlier and was preparing to file a lawsuit, drove his car into the sea and went missing.

On September 15, the body of Aiko was found in Tokyo Bay, and on September 16, the body of Hirasawa Yui was found in Tokyo Bay.

On September 19, the Joint Special Investigation Headquarters for the serial dumping of bodies in Tokyo Bay was established.

Uesugi Muneyuki wrote the dates on the blackboard and then said to the crowd below, "Everyone, please look at this timeline, and you will know what we overlooked during the investigation."

The audience frowned, but no one answered.

"First of all, Aiko undoubtedly encountered trouble after returning home late at night on September 6. On September 7, the Kanagawa police accepted the case and began investigating it as a missing person case. On September 10, they identified the suspect as Executive Director Sato and arrested him."

Uesugi Muneyuki drew a timeline: "However, according to the subsequent investigation, Aiko died 7-10 days before the body was discovered. In other words, when we reached this result on September 17, we could confirm that Aiko died between September 8 and September 11."

"So, Aiko did not die immediately after being kidnapped. There was a period of time between her kidnapping and her murder."

"And this is the key to proving that Executive Director Sato is innocent. Aiko died after the incident, and Executive Director Sato has an alibi after the incident on September 7."

Sato, the executive director, nodded to Uesugi Muneyuki from below the stage, feeling both frustrated and grateful.

"What are you trying to say, Uesugi-kun?" Inspector Higurashi, sitting in the audience, frowned; he hadn't fully understood.

“What I’m trying to say is that it was precisely during the period when Sato was suspected that certain people were provided cover for some of the culprits hiding in the shadows,” Uesugi Muneyuki said seriously. “We can confirm that from the time Sato was arrested on September 10th until his release on September 19th due to insufficient evidence… or at least until the discovery of the body parts on September 15th, Kanagawa’s focus was always on Sato. As a result, some things were overlooked.”

"On September 15, Aiko Igarashi's body was discovered, and the case was upgraded from a missing person case to a criminal case. After it was confirmed as a missing person case on the 15th, what will the Kanagawa police find when they go back to investigate the case again?"

Uesugi Muneyuki drew a long line under the date of Sasaki's fall into the sea on September 12: "What they found out was that Sasaki fell into the sea and died on September 12. Because it was Yakuza, there was no search and rescue operation. It was directly treated as a missing person death."

This is the Yakuza, where there are no human rights. "Dead people are not worth investigating, and dead people don't commit crimes. Under this subconscious belief, the Kanagawa police automatically ignored this conflict that had occurred between the two parties due to a minor vehicle collision."

"In other words, before September 15, the Kanagawa police were focused on Executive Director Sato and did not notice the minor collision. After September 15, when the Kanagawa police reopened their investigation in other areas, they learned that the main person involved in the minor collision, Sasaki, had died on September 12, so they naturally did not continue to investigate in that direction."

"So, from beginning to end, this most crucial clue was simply ignored!"

"After our department intervened on September 19, this lead was naturally not reported. So... we got caught in a trap, wasting our energy on other things, unaware that the real culprit may have died on September 12 due to an accident or other reasons when his car fell into the sea!"

"Think about it again, everyone. Sasaki is a Yakuza. He had a conflict with Igarashi Aiko over a minor collision and was injured and unable to pay for repairs. He already has enough personal grudges to commit the crime. And the way he disposed of the body was the traditional method of the yakuza: cut it up and dump it into Tokyo Bay!"

Uesugi Muneyuki's words were like a wake-up call, clearing away the fog and revealing the truth to everyone present!
It was like finally being able to release the urge to defecate after a whole week of constipation; the sheer relief that came with the rumbling of the stomach overwhelmed the minds of dozens of people present.

Yes, yes!
That makes perfect sense! Yakuza, who was injured in a car accident and had a personal grudge, was unemployed and had plenty of time to deal with the matter. He knew Igarashi Aiko but couldn't knock on her door, so he would stalk, monitor, commit crimes, and even dismember her body and dump it into Tokyo Bay!

Wonderful, wonderful!
Everyone present was amazed by Uesugi Muneyuki's forensic abilities.

It’s amazing!
Think about this ghost case, what exactly happened?
The severely decomposed body, only partially intact, the desperate situation where all evidence at the scene was contaminated, the victim's simple yet complex and hidden interpersonal relationships, the constant interference and hindrance of the useless people in Kanagawa, and the complicated background of Sumitomo Mitsui and the shadowy figure of his father causing trouble.

How could he deduce that from that?
With Uesugi Muneyuki explaining things this way, everything made sense.

That's it!

No wonder they couldn't find out anything. This clue was ignored by the Kanagawa authorities from the very beginning, while the Metropolitan Police Department was completely unaware of it. Tokyo Marine Insurance, which was involved in the matter, had already completed the procedures, and other forces were constantly diverting everyone's attention in other directions.

After Uesugi Muneyuki unraveled the mystery, the truth came to light.

The real culprit died after falling into the sea on September 12th!
Amazing! How did Uesugi, the forensic investigator, manage to uncover this?
A collective gasp of admiration rippled through the room below.

"If Uesugi-kun is right, we'll know the results soon," said Sugishita Ukyo, head of the First Investigation Division, in a low voice.

"That's right, the joint fleet formed by the Japan Coast Guard and our Tokyo Maritime Holdings is already preparing for a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor." The insurance representative, Shibukawa, who was present, joked with a smile: "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

“That’s right, all we have to do now is wait for news.” Miss Minami held up her phone and said with a smile to everyone in the room, “I showed the Metropolitan Police Department a live stream of Muneyuki-kun’s explanation!”

The young lady turned her phone over.

It was already late at night, but on the other side of the phone screen, all the high-ranking officials of the Metropolitan Police Department, led by Superintendent General Eiji Watanabe, were present, along with Police Commissioner General Tsurugi Kaneko and Chief Cabinet Secretary Kimiaki Onoda.

Everyone watched Uesugi Muneyuki's reasoning process in its entirety.

"A truly brilliant deduction, Muneyuki-kun." Watanabe Eiji nodded and smiled on his phone screen. "Now, we just need to wait for the salvage results."

Old Deng seemed to be showing off a bit, and the attitudes and expressions of the high-ranking officials below varied, but they were all speechless with admiration for Uesugi Muneyuki.

After the meeting, everyone immediately rushed to the salvage site near Hakkeijō Island.

At 4 a.m. on September 26, the decisive moment finally arrived.

After much effort, Tokyo Marine Holdings' salvage vessel finally retrieved the Mazda from the seabed!

The Metropolitan Police Department's Joint Special Investigation Headquarters found two bodies that had been soaked in seawater, Igarashi Aiko's briefcase, and two black plastic bags in the trunk that hadn't been thrown away yet, containing Igarashi Aiko's lower limbs and head!
Thus, the Tokyo Bay serial murder case, which shocked all of Japan, attracted countless attention, involved the Mitsui Sumitomo Group and Yokohama City's 1.5 trillion yen port revitalization plan, and involved a total insured amount of over 380 billion yen, has been officially solved!

However, Uesugi Muneyuki only examined the body before his expression changed drastically.

"This was not an accidental fall into the sea!"

"This was a premeditated murder!"

"Sasaki was murdered!"

These words shocked everyone present.

Is this case still ongoing?

(End of this chapter)