KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a 43-year-old man for allegedly attempting to kill a middle school girl who wrote online that she wanted to die, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 12).
Between the night of February 10 and the following morning, Koki Ashida, a temporary worker, allegedly strangled the girl, 15, at his residence in the Shimoogino area of Atsugi City before she managed to flee.
According to the Atsugi Police Station, the girl met the suspect on a social-networking service. On February 10, the girl wrote to the suspect, “Will you not kill me?” He responded, “If you come to my residence, I will kill you.”
Ashida, who has been accused of attempting to carry out a contract murder, admits to the allegations. “I did strangle her, but I did not intend to kill,” the suspect was quoted by police. “However, if by chance I were to have killed her, I, too, wanted to die.”
After she fled the residence on the morning of February 11, the girl went to a convenience store and called her mother.
