Two of the three bodies unearthed from a camping ground parking lot in Yamanashi Prefecture earlier this month were identified Thursday as former employees of a local construction firm, local police said.
DNA testing and accounts offered by those familiar with the case showed that the two were 50-year-old Daisaku Yokota, of Fukuoka Prefecture, and 51-year-old Katsuyoshi Taga, of Aichi Prefecture, investigators said.
Both were employees of now-defunct Asahi Kensetsu.
Investigative sources said police believe the third body is also that of an Asahi Kensetsu employee, and are working to identify it.
According to investigations, Yokota and Taga came to work for Asahi Kensetsu from the Airin district of Osaka's Nishinari Ward around May 2000.