Yuri Yoshikawa

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Izumisano Police Station Osaka Prefectural (POLICE)

Missing From:

Kumatori, Osaka

Summary:

Yuri Yoshikawa was a nine-year-old girl who disappeared on May 20, 2003, while walking home from school in Kumatori, Osaka, Japan. She is believed to have been abducted by a man in a white Toyota Crown sedan. No trace of her has been found despite extensive police investigation and thousands of leads.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On May 20, 2003, Yuri Yoshikawa was on a social field trip to Osaka City with her elementary school. After visiting the Sewerage Science Museum in Konohana Ward, she left school at around 2:30 PM, 30 minutes earlier than usual. She separated from her three friends at approximately 2:57 PM in front of a crosswalk near Shichiyama intersection. Two minutes later, at around 2:59 PM, a boy on a bicycle spotted her approximately 400 meters from her home, briefly spoke to her saying "bye bye," and she continued walking. This was her last reported sighting. Her older brother noticed around 3:10 PM that Yuri had not arrived home as expected. When she had not returned by 5 PM, her brother notified her parents. Early in the morning of May 21, 2003, a witness reported seeing a girl matching Yuri's description standing next to a white or silver car with its trunk open on the outbound lane of National Route 2 in Okayama Prefecture, wearing the same outfit from the day of disappearance.

Additional Details:

Police investigation established that Yuri was likely kidnapped at around 3 PM on May 20, 2003, on a street near her residence in Kumatori. The primary lead in the case involves eyewitness reports of a suspicious white Toyota Crown sedan (130 Series model, manufactured between 1987 and 1990) in the area around the time of disappearance. A male driver and a young girl in the front passenger seat were observed in the vehicle driving away from the area. About a month before the incident, a dark car similar to a Nissan Cedric was seen parked near the scene with the driver watching children on their way home from school. Police conducted searches of waterways, reservoirs, and forests but found no trace of Yuri. Since the investigation began, police have received approximately 4,500 tips, but none led to her discovery. In 2004, Kouki Nakatani and Kayo Kawakami perpetrated an elaborate fraud against Yuri's parents, claiming to have information about her and demanding money. They were arrested in 2008, with Kawakami sentenced to two years in prison and four years probation in May 2009, and Nakatani sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2009. In 2009, weekly magazine Friday published an article claiming Yuri had been kidnapped by North Korea based on testimony from a former investigator, but no evidence was found to support this theory. In November 2010, a malicious post on 2ch claimed the person had kidnapped and murdered Yuri and dumped her body in Jukai Forest; police opened an investigation and arrested the suspect in February 2011. In 2023, a Kansai TV broadcast featured the original investigator and four of Yuri's elementary school classmates discussing the case. The National Police Agency continues to offer a reward of 3 million yen for information leading to resolution of the case.

Case Last Updated:

Jul 07, 2026