It had to have been him, it's too coincidental otherwise. They believed it possible until they checked his remains and said he was too weak but he may not have always been, he could have died months after making the sign too
This was my thought too. Plus they thought the remains were female for quite some time. Not sure I entirely trust Japan's forensic abilities at the time.
Believe it or not, it is assuming the pelvis is present, it is very easy to determine sex. Just look at the pubic arch, just inferior (below) the pubic symphysis. Narrow (less than 90 degrees) is male wide (more than 90 degrees) is female. There are a few other details like the shape of the iliac crest and the size of the pubic cavity but the pubic arch is the simplest.
yeah this was discovered around the time the Aum Shinrikyo cult were gearing up to build a little chemical weapons factory. not to knock Japan tho, cops can be incompetent anywhere, anytime.
Maybe the tool just wasn't found? The area was described as a kind of trap that is difficult to get out of. So where could this other person have gone?
Well it seems more likely, given it is an enclosed area that has been searched at this point that there isn't another missing body but rather one of the bodies had a tool that is now missing.
I don't think it means he had an axe I think it is very clear he had carrying capacity and planned his trip and so it is more likely to me that we haven't found what enabled him to do it rather than we haven't found who did it.