The Curse Called Mother, the Prison Called Daughter: A True Story of Matricide

On March 10, 2018, a corpse belonging to 58-year-old single mother Taeko Takasaki is found on a riverbank in Shiga Prefecture. Her body is mutilated beyond recognition, with her head, arms, and legs all severed, and investigators quickly home in on her 31-year-old daughter, Akari, as the prime suspect. Details about their relationship slowly come to light, painting a picture of a daughter pushed to the brink by a physically and emotionally abusive mother in desperate need for control, culminating in a horrific crime described by Akari in two simple sentences: “The monster is dead. Now I am free.” What compelled this seemingly ordinary student to go down a road that would eventually lead to her stabbing her own mother to death? This question drove one court reporter to pursue a lengthy correspondence with Akari in order to uncover the tragic true story behind the murder.