The trial of {Renma Sato} began Tuesday at the Sendai District Court, drawing significant attention in Japan. The 22-year-old kickboxer from Iwanuma is charged with murder and abandoning the body of 35-year-old nursery school teacher Yuka Gyōji.
According to prosecutors, Sato stabbed Gyōji multiple times with a knife on the night of April 12, 2025, on a coastal breakwater in Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture. Her body was then dragged to the beach and abandoned among wave-dissipating concrete blocks.
During the opening hearing, Sato admitted to the murder and body abandonment charges, telling the court the indictment was correct. However, he denied a separate theft charge related to allegedly taking cash and a wallet from Gyōji’s bag after the killing.
Prosecutors said the two met through a dating app and that Sato had borrowed more than one million yen from Gyōji. Investigators also uncovered smartphone searches and notes suggesting the crime may have been planned in advance after Gyōji informed him she was pregnant and wanted to marry.
The verdict is scheduled to be delivered on March 17, 2026.
Source: beyondkick.com