KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested five persons in the abandoning of the body of a missing man under an office in Atsugi City, reports TBS News (Mar. 16).
Police have accused Mitsuhiro Kugino, 39, Ryuta Akino, 23, and three others of dumping the body of Hajime Kashiwazaki, a 27-year-old painter living in Sagamihara City, under floorboards of the office of a construction company, located in the Kamiechi area of Atsugi.
According to police, Kashiwazaki returned home with members of his family at around midnight on January 10. He then went park his vehicle in a nearby lot but was not heard from again.
Kashiwazaki’s vehicle was later found in a parking lot of a gymnasium in the town of Aikawa, located about seven kilometers from his residence. A bloodstain found in the back seat proved to be a match for Kashiwazaki. A part of a seat had also been burned.
A witness said that he saw several men gathered around the vehicle of Kashiwazaki in the parking lot near his home on the night he disappeared. Police suspect that the victim was subsequently kidnapped and beaten.
On February 27, Kashiwazaki’s body was found entombed in concrete under the office. The results of an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be loss of blood from a damaged artery in his thigh.
None of the five suspects has commented on the allegations.
Police are now investigating whether to apply murder charges to the suspects.
