Police Search Family Home of 11-Year-Old Boy Found Dead in Kyoto Prefecture (UPDATE 1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:26 JST, April 15, 2026 (updated at 16:50 JST)

KYOTO — The Kyoto prefectural police on Wednesday searched the home of an 11-year-old boy whose body was found in a wooded area in Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture, on suspicion that someone abandoned his body, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The police also plan to question the boy’s parents on a voluntary basis.

Around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, police officers cordoned off the family’s house and began taking measurements and photographs.

According to police sources, the police suspect that the death of Yuki Adachi, a sixth grader at Sonobe Elementary School who went missing near the school late last month, involved foul play as some details of the case have raised flags, including the discovery of his body and school bag in separate spots. A pair of shoes resembling the child’s was also found at a third location.

An officer in the prefecture’s first investigative division told reporters on Tuesday evening that an autopsy conducted that day identified the body as Adachi’s. He is thought to have died in late March. No major cuts or other wounds were found on his body, and a cause of death has yet to be identified, according to the officer.

According to an explanation that Adachi’s family provided to the police and the elementary school, the boy got out of his family’s car about 200 meters away from the school building around 8 a.m. on March 23. He then went missing. Although there were two security cameras at the school, Adachi was not found on footage taken by either camera that day.

On March 29, relatives discovered Adachi’s school bag in the mountains about three kilometers west of the school. On Sunday, a pair of black shoes believed to belong to a child were found during a search in the mountains about six kilometers southwest of the school. The shoes resembled a pair of black sneakers Adachi is known to have worn. On Monday, his body was found in a wooded area about 2 kilometers south of the elementary school.