CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have seized child pornography at the residence of the suspect arrested in connection with the killing of a Vietnamese girl last month in Abiko City, investigative sources revealed on Monday, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Apr. 17).
According to the sources, police have seized numerous books and DVDs featuring children believed to be underage from the residence of Yasumasa Shibuya, located in the Mutsumi area of Matsumoto City. He was arrested on Friday for allegedly abandoning the body of Le Thi Nhat Linh, a 9-year-old resident of Matsudo City, near a canal.
Shibuya, 46, is the head of the parent-teacher association at Mutsumi Daini Elementary School, where Le was a student. She went missing on March 24. Two days later, her body was found by a fisherman in grass near the canal, about 12 kilometers from her residence.
An examination of security camera footage taken on March 24 showed a silver vehicle belonging to Shibuya at a bank of the Tone River where a backpack and other items likely belonging to the girl were later found. The vehicle was also spotted near the location of the discovery of her body, about 20 kilometers from the riverbank.
The results of an autopsy revealed that Le likely died due to suffocation caused by strangulation.
On the day after the arrest of Shibuya, police retrieved about 20 cardboard boxes of items, including the aforementioned DVDs and books, from the residence of the suspect.
A former colleague, who worked with the suspect part-time, told Nippon News Network (Apr. 15), said he collected DVDs featuring young girls. “Age of 15 and under,” said the ex-coworker of the suspect’s collection of DVDs. “He wasn’t interested in high school girls. If they weren’t under 15, he had no interest. There were also pictures from a visit to a shop with underwear for young girls.”
Thus far, Shibuya has not commented on the allegations. Police are analyzing the seized items to determine a motive for the crime, according to TBS News (Apr. 17).
