Remains Found in Japan May Be of Cult Investigator, Wife
When he vanished six years ago, lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto was leading a legal crusade against a cult he believed was dangerously out of control.
On Wednesday, hundreds of police--guided by cult members’ confessions--dug up in northern Japan what they believe are the remains of Sakamoto and his wife.
Sakamoto learned of the Aum Supreme Truth cult from accounts of parents seeking the return of children and from former believers.
But police did not heed Sakamoto’s warnings. They also failed to link the 1989 disappearance of Sakamoto and his family to the cult until after a Tokyo subway gas attack March 20 that killed 12 people and sickened more than 5,000. The cult denies involvement in the attack.
Several cult leaders said that, on orders from cult guru Shoko Asahara, they strangled to death Sakamoto, his wife, Satoko, and their 1-year-old son Tatsuhiko.
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