MIE (TR) – Mie Prefectural Police have arrested a male Filipino factory worker on suspicion of abandoning the body of a female Chinese co-worker in a forest in Yokkaichi City last year.
On around July 22, 2023, Jervin Bernardez Juni, 32, allegedly dumped the body of Zhao Xia, then 36, in a grove of trees in the Nakanocho area, reports CBC News (Sep. 19).
Police have not revealed whether Juni admits to the allegations. He was sent to prosecutors on suspicion of abandoning a corpse on Thursday.
The investigation is ongoing with Mie police believing that Zhao was murdered.
Told her roommate she was going out to eat
According to police, Juni, who lives in the town of Komono, and Zhao worked at the same factory in Yokkaichi.
At around 5 p.m. on July 22 last year, Zhao told her roommate that she was going out to eat. She was never seen again. Her boss at the factory reported her missing with police two days later.
On April 29 this year, a passerby discovered skeletal remains in the forest in Nakanocho. The results of a DNA analysis on the remains proved to be a match for Zhao.
The results of an autopsy did not reveal the cause of death. However, the condition of the body when it was discovered indicated that the person had been dead for several months.
On Wednesday, police set up a roughly 30-member task force at Yokkaichi Nishi Police Station to investigate the case.
