Rina Yasutake: Family thought mummified woman was still aliveon January 14, 2023 at 1:00 am

The family of a woman whose partially-mummified body was found in their home believed she was alive for months after she died, an inquest heard.

Rina Yasutake, 49, shared a house with her mother and two siblings in the village of Helmsley, North Yorkshire.

She had been dead for weeks when paramedics found her in bed on 25 September 2018.

No cause of death was established despite police inquiries and Coroner Jon Heath recorded an open conclusion.

The inquest in Northallerton was told Ms Yasutake’s body was discovered after suspicions were raised at the local chemist when her brother Takahiro, 51, and sister Yoshika, 56, repeatedly bought bottles of surgical spirit over a period of days.

Her siblings and their mother, Michiko Yasutake, 80, were originally charged with preventing a lawful and decent burial, but the prosecution was halted when it was found the family members suffered from a rare mental disorder.

Craig Hassall KC, representing the family, asked Det Insp Nichola Holden if the family was “utterly convinced” that she was alive when the emergency services attended.

“They were at the time and for many months after,” the detective replied.

Mr Hassall described his clients as “a very insular and isolated family” and Ms Holden agreed that, even when using a Japanese interpreter, communication was difficult, as they spoke their own dialect.

The officer added that during the course of inquiries it was found they had no means of communicating with the outside world and no TV or radio.

Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton said it was hard to determine how long Ms Yasutake had been dead, given the extent of mummification, but that the level to which it had developed took “some weeks”.

Mr Heath was told there was no evidence of any third party involvement in her death, no sign of injury or toxicological cause.

Ms Yasutake, who was Japanese, was a talented pupil and won a scholarship to Cambridge University where she studied classics, specialising in linguistics.

She did not work after university and the family had lived together in Helmsley for 20 years, the inquest was told.

In statements given to a psychiatrist, the brother and sister said that during the course of 2018 she stopped eating, grew weaker and began to move less and less.

Earlier that year it was recorded that Ms Yasutake, who was 4ft 11in tall (1.5m), weighed just six stone six pounds (41kg).

Mr Heath said: “I am unable from the evidence available to determine how she died.”

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