AICHI (TR) – Aichi Prefectural Police have arrested a Peruvian man for allegedly starting a fire that followed the murders of two Brazilian sisters at a residence in Handa City five years ago, reports Jiji Press (Dec. 8).
On December 30, 2015, Edgardo Anthony La Rosa Vite, 34, allegedly used gasoline to set fire to the apartment of 27-year-old Kimberly Akemy Amarilha Maruyama.
Emergency personnel later found the bodies of Maruyama and her sister, 29-year-old Michelle, inside the burned-out structure, located inside a government-run building in the Ippongicho area area.
A gasoline can was discovered in the kitchen, police previously said.
Based on evidence at the scene, security camera footage and witness testimony, police on Tuesday accused Vite of arson.
The suspect declined to comment on the allegations, the Handa Police Station said.
Both strangled
Police had been investigating the case as murder-arson. Police previously said that the results of autopsies conducted on the bodies revealed that both women died of suffocation from pressure applied to the neck.
Police also said that the women had both been strangled before the unit was set ablaze.
Vite was in a relationship with Maruyama, a part-time employee at a leisure facility. Following the incident, police first arrested him for allegedly driving without a valid license after he was found in Nagoya behind the wheel of a vehicle used by Maruyama.
Murder
Since April of that year, Maruyama had been living with her two children at the residence. Michelle, a factory worker, was a regular visitor.
Maruyama’s children were confirmed safe after the fire broke out.
Police are continuing the investigation to learn whether Vite also carried out the murders of the women.
