KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have accused a 27-year-old man of abandoning the body of his former girlfriend inside his residence in Kawasaki City, reports Nippon News Network (May 5).
On Monday, police sent Hideyuki Shirai to prosecutors on suspicion of abandoning the body of Asahi Okazaki, 20, inside his residence between December 20 last year and April 30.
On the night of April 30, police searched the home of Shirai on suspicion of violating the Stalking Prevention Act. A partially skeletal body was found in a bag.
At the time of the discovery, the whereabouts of Shirai were unknown. Police later learned that he fled to the United States in early April. He arrived at Haneda International Airport on May 3.
The suspect initially admitted to the charges, but has stopped speaking about the case since his arrest. That same day, police confirmed that the body found in the residence is that of Okazaki.
Stalking
Okazaki is also a resident of Kawasaki. She disappeared from her home on the morning of December 20. The glass windows of her home were found to be broken and the door unlocked. Her family reported her missing to two days later.
After she went missing, her family asked for information on social media. In January, it was discovered that Okazaki’s bicycle was found near the home of the former boyfriend.
Between December 9 and 20, Okazaki consulted with police about stalking by Shirai. “Shirai is hanging around my house,” she said by telephone.
However, police did not question Shirai during this time.
“Why did she have to go through this?”
According to TV Asahi (May 6), the body of Okazakia was returned to her grandmother’s house, where she had been staying until just before she went missing. According to the network, there were signs that the body had been burned.
“I met [my daughter] yesterday, and she was in a terrible state,” her father told the network. “I have nothing but hatred for the perpetrator. It’s not something a normal person would do. She was just killed and then burned. It’s the same as being killed twice. I really feel sorry for my daughter. Why did she have to go through this?”
Shirai participated in hip-hop. He worked as a scaffolder, but was fired due to frequent absenteeism.
He met Okazaki at a bar in Kawasaki with the president of his former employer. The two started dating around April last year. According to his family, they broke up about a month later, when Shirai’s stalking began.
According to police, Okazaki consulted the nearest Kawasaki Rinko Police Station about domestic violence by Shirai from June onwards.
The police repeatedly warned Shirai, but stopped taking action after confirming that the two had reconciled last November.
However, a friend tells TV Asahi that Shirai’s stalking is believed to have escalated in December when the two broke up again.
