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Man arrested after body likely of missing female university student found in Ibaraki

IBARAKI (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 35-year-old man after the discovery of the body likely belonging to a female university student from Tokyo who went missing in Kamisu City last year, reports the Kyodo News (Jan. 31).

Early Thursday, officers used testimony from Koichi Hirose, of no known occupation, to assist them in finding the body buried in a field near the coast. The suspect, who lives in Kamisu, has been accused of abandoning a corpse.

“I killed the girl I met on [an internet] bulletin board site after she started getting noisy,” the suspect told police. “I then buried her body.” He also said that the killing took place inside his vehicle.

According to police, the gender of the body is not known. Police are now working to confirm its identity.

Koichi Hirose
Koichi Hirose (Twitter)

Missing girl

On November 20, the girl, a 19-year-old resident of Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward, went by train from JR Ayase Station to Kamisu after attending class at her university in the capital.

After exiting JR Kashimajingu Station, the girl boarded a taxi for a convenience store nearby. She then went in the direction of the residence of the man who began undergoing questioning on Saturday, police said previously.

At around 11:00 p.m. that night, the student last exchanged messages with family and friends on her smartphone via the application Line. She has not been heard from since. Her family reported her missing with the Ayase Police Station on November 22.

Police took Hirose in for voluntary questioning beginning on January 24. During the conversations, he said that he did meet her in front of his residence. “But she left immediately. I don’t know where she went,” he told police. He later changed his story.