GUNMA (TR) – Gunma Prefectural Police investigating the grisly discovery of a dismembered corpse here have revealed that the suspect placed an electric circular saw believed to have been used in the crime for sale on a flea market app, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (July 25).
Masanao Arai, a 50-year-old factory worker from Honjo City, Saitama Prefecture, has been re-arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder. He is accused of killing his former colleague, 59-year-old part-time worker Kazunori Obuchi, around February 26.
According to police, Arai murdered Obuchi by unspecified means and stole two of his cash cards. He then allegedly used the electric circular saw to chop up the body before burying the severed remains in a riverbed along the Tone River in Isesaki City, where they were discovered in April.
In a chilling twist, investigators discovered that Arai put the circular saw up for sale on an online flea market site following the crime. Subsequent forensic analysis detected Obuchi’s DNA on the tool, providing police with crucial physical evidence tying Arai to the killing.
Arai, who has already been indicted on charges of abandoning a corpse, continues to deny the allegations.
Gunma Prefectural Police sent Arai to the Maebashi District Public Prosecutors Office on July 24 to face the robbery-murder charge. Police believe the DNA evidence strongly substantiates his involvement in the brutal crime.
However, during police questioning, Arai denied the latest allegations, simply stating, “I didn’t do it.”
