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16-year-old girl murdered in Yokohama, man arrested

Isaki Ota
Isaki Ota

YOKOHAMA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested a 36-year-old male in the killing of a girl at a short-term lodging facility in Yokohama’s Naka Ward, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Sep. 10).

Police took Kenji Yokoyama, who is unemployed, into custody for strangling Isaki Ota, a 16-year-old resident of Kamakura City, with his hands sometime between September 8 and 9.

The results of an autopsy revealed suffocation to be the cause of death.

Yokoyama, who has been charged with murder, admits to the allegations. “It is true that I choked her with my hands,” the suspect is quoted by police. “But I did not intend to kill her.”

Ota, whom the suspect described as an “acquaintance,” was last seen at home by her mother on the morning of September 8. Emergency personnel arrived at the lodge at 2:10 a.m. the next day after receiving a call from the suspect in which he said a girl in his room had fallen unconscious. Firefighters found the victim lying face up on a futon. She was confirmed dead at the scene.

Police are now investigating what lead to the girl’s death.