TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 27-year-old man after he was found with the corpse of his girlfriend inside a vehicle in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Dec. 10).
On Sunday night, police took Yoshinobu Kumazawa, of no known occupation, after finding the body likely that of Natsuki Taniguchi, a 20-year-old student at a vocational school in Tokyo, in the back seat of a rental car in a parking lot in Iwaki.
On Monday, police accused Kumazawa of abandoning a corpse. The suspect admits to the allegations.
Taniguchi lived in a dormitory in Nerima Ward that is connected with the school. On December 6, a representative of the school telephoned her parents to tell them that their daughter had not attended class since November 29.
The following day, her father visited the dorm room and found blood on a bed sheet and alerted police. Security camera footage shot at the dormitory in the early morning of December 3 shows a man believed to be Kumazawa carrying a futon that likely covers the corpse of Taniguchi out of her unit.
Police used additional security camera footage to locate the vehicle rented by Kumazawa in Fukushima. It is believed that the suspect used the vehicle to transport the body of Taniguchi to the parking lot.
In addition to confirming the identity of the body, police are continuing the investigation on suspicion of murder. An examination of Taniguchi’s body revealed undisclosed injuries. As well, a note left behind in the dormitory that is believed to have been written by Kumazawa hinted at involvement in the killing of Taniguchi.
