MIYAGI (TR) – A male kickboxer in custody in connection with the death of a missing woman from Sendai City missed a match shortly after the discovery of her body, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Apr. 28 ).
As previously reported, Renma Sato, 21, allegedly dumped the corpse of nursery school teacher Yuka Yukishi on the sand near concrete tetrapods in Iwanuma City between 7:40 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. on April 12.
On April 26, police accused Sato of abandoning a corpse. Police have not revealed whether the suspect admits to the allegations.
In the latest development, police have learned that the suspect told people around him that he met the victim the day before the discovery of her body. “I met Yukishi to give her a ticket to the match to be held on April 20,” he reportedly said.
The suspect missed that match on that day. He was arrested by prefectural police on April 26.
Sato lives in Iwanuma. According to sources, he is a member of a kickboxing gym in the southern part of the prefecture. He started going to the gym when he was in the third grade of elementary school.
Yukishi was a resident of nearby Taihaku Ward, Sendai. Sato is believed to have been an acquaintance of Yukishi.
On April 13, a person walking on the beach discovered her body, which had several stab wounds.
When the police checked Sato’s smartphone, they found a record of a phone call with Yukishi just before 7 p.m. the day before her body was found.
Yukishi’s family filed a missing persons report at some point after she left her home on April 12.
Given the stab wounds on Yukishi’s body, police are continuing the investigation on suspicion of murder.
