NIIGATA (TR) – A man serving a life-in-prison term over the killing of a woman in Shibata City in 2013 has been re-arrested over the murder of another woman, Niigata Prefectural Police said last month, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Feb. 26).
According to police, evidence found in connection with the death of Mio Okuyama, 22, in 2014 connected 36-year-old Shogo Kina to her murder.
“I do not recall [the matter],” the suspect was quoted by police in denying the allegations.
Early on January 15, 2014, Kina allegedly abducted Okuyama and strangled her in Shibata. Her body was found in the Ogawa River that April 4. The cause of death was suffocation due to pressure applied to the neck, police said.
The day after Okuyama went missing, her vehicle was located about 350 meters from where her body was later found. The results of a DNA analysis conducted on evidence found inside the vehicle proved to be a match for Kina, police said.
Other women
Kina is a resident of Shibata. The Niigata District Court handed him the life term over the rape and fatal bludgeoning of Nozomi Tokunaga, a 22-year-old part-time employee, after he kidnapped her in Shibata in November, 2013.
Tokunaga’s skeletal remains were found in shrubbery about 5 kilometers from her residence in April, 2014. She went missing the previous November 22 after visiting an acquaintance’s house.
Also included in the ruling was the confinement and rape of three other women between August and December, 2013.
Escaped custody
After he was arrested over the confinement and rape of the three women in 2014, he escaped custody at the Niigata District Court that June 27. However, he was later apprehended near the courtroom.
In a sixth case, the body of another woman was found on September 2, 2013. Her corpse was inside one of four cars found on fire in a parking lot located around 3 kilometers from Kina’s residence.
The results of a DNA analysis evidence found inside the vehicle proved to be a match for Kina, police said previously.
