The Yokohama District Public Prosecutor's Office has decided not to slap a murder charge on an American man already on trial for abandoning a woman's body in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Gregory Gumo, 41, allegedly dumped the body of Mariko Akitaya, 42, in Koajiro Bay in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, last July. He has been on trial over abandoning her body since October while a murder charge was pending.
The prosecutor's office has concluded that evidence could not be found to overturn Gumo's claim that he believed Akitaya was dead prior to dumping her body.
The Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested Gumo in August on the charge of abandoning Akitaya's body and served another arrest warrant for alleged murder by drowning.
With the lack of evidence, the prosecutors changed their court strategy during the trial session in February, saying Gumo "abandoned the body after mistakenly believing that the victim was dead."
According to the revised indictment, Gumo dumped Akitaya's body into the sea after placing her in a bag with pieces of concrete tied around it, believing that she had already died.