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Saitama cop killed man due to money problems

Shota Nakano
Shota Nakano

SAITAMA (TR) – An officer with the Saitama Prefectural Police has told investigators that he killed a 58-year-old former taxi driver due to money problems, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Sep. 15).

“I was engaged in an extramarital affair and needed money,” Shota Nakano, a 31-year-old sergeant at the Urawa Police Station, said on Monday.

Nakano was arrested on murder charges in the killing of Toshiharu Terao, who was found dead in his home in Asaka City on September 4. The neck of Terao had marks consistent with strangulation. The results of an autopsy revealed that the victim died due to suffocation.

According to police, DNA obtained from evidence found at the scene of the crime matched that of Nakano.

“I was the one who strangled the man with a rope,” the suspect was previously quoted by police. But he denies intent in killing the victim.

Nakano is married with children. The woman with whom he was having an affair just recently gave birth to his child.

Until March, the suspect had been assigned to the criminal affairs division of the Asaka Police Station. In October of last year, he first visited Terao’s home during an investigation into the death of the victim’s father.

After the discovery of the body of Terao, a safe inside his home was found empty. According to the Terao’s younger brother, it had previously contained approximately one million yen in cash.

Police are now investigating whether Nakano played a role in the disappearance of the money.