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"Miss Y" is the pseudonym used for an anonymous woman whose legs were found floating in the Ise Bay in Japan. Her case is occasionally referred to as the "Ise Bay Dismemberment Murder Case".
She was identified in 1991, 21 years after her discovery, following a confession from a taxi driver and the discovery of more of Miss Y's body parts in the driver's apartment. All names in the case are currently being withheld.
Case[]
Discovery[]
Between 23 April and 4 May 1970, the severed legs of a woman were found floating in Japan's Ise Bay, between the city of Kuwana in Mie Prefecture and the town of Mihama in Aichi Prefecture. Mie University's School of Medicine confirmed both legs belonged to the same woman. Miss Y was thought to have been deceased for 2 to 3 months by the time of discovery, and her legs were cut from her body postmortem. The Prefectural Police stations of Mie, Aichi, and Gifu Prefecture came together to try to determine the identity of the woman and her killer. However, the investigation was closed in 1980 after the statute of limitations expired.
Identification[]
On 8 March 1991, the wife of a taxi driver was searching through a closet in their apartment in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. She came across a tin clothing can stored on a high shelf emitting a foul odor. The husband had told her not to open the can, stating a friend had left it behind. However, noting the stench coming from it, she phoned the Aichi Prefectural Police.
Upon investigation of the can, authorities found the mummified torso, arms, and head of a woman wrapped in a blanket and a plastic bag. The husband was immediately questioned and soon confessed to murdering a woman who lived with him during the spring of 1970 or 1971. Miss Y was confirmed to be the owner of the head, torso, and arms found in his closet and the legs found in Ise Bay. He confessed to strangling Miss Y to death one night following an argument about her always returning home late. Afterwards, he used a saw to dismember her legs, wrapped them in cloth and disposed of them in the Kiso River. The man mentioned that he had planned to dispose of the rest of her body eventually but changed jobs and residences and only found time to change the cloth her body was wrapped in.
The Nagoya District Public Prosecutor's Office sent his case for indictment, but it was dismissed due to the case's statute of limitations expiring. He was never tried for Miss Y's murder, and the credibility of his confession is unclear.
Sources[]
- Clairvoyant Report (Japanese)