TOKYO (TR) – A male university student in custody over the killing of a woman whose corpse was found inside a love hotel last month planned to help a teenage girl kill herself, police revealed last week, reports NHK (Oct. 8).
Sometime between around 6:00 p.m. and 8 p.m. on September 12, Mizuki Kitajima, 22, is alleged to have fatally strangled Hiromi Araki, 36, inside a second-floor room of the hotel, located in the Ikebukuro area of Toshima Ward.
After his arrest, Kitajima, a resident of Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture, admitted to using his hands to strangle Araki. He also said, “[She] begged me to do it.”
In the latest development, police said that the suspect told them that he had been using Twitter to communicate with “several persons” interested in committing suicide. Araki was one such person.
Kitajima also had been in touch with a teenage girl. After arranging to meet with her, Kitajima arrived at the designated location at the appointed time with a rope to strangle her. However, the girl did not appear. Later, her account was found to have been suspended, police said.
