TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 29-year-old man for allegedly dumping the body of a missing woman in Tochigi Prefecture earlier this year, reports NHK (Dec. 6).
On Sunday, police accused Yoshito Sato, a nursery school teacher, of dumping the body of Saori Tomitsuka, a 35-year-old contract employee, on the grounds of a villa in the town of Nasu.
Sato admits to the allegations. “I broke into [her] residence to steal money,” the suspect said. “When she resisted I strangled her with a rope in killing her.”
According to police, the whereabouts of Tomitsuka became unknown on September 24.
Police investigating her disappearance found her mobile telephone near her residence in Toshima Ward.
As well, an examination of security camera footage by police showed Sato following Tomitsuka the day before she disappeared.
Owned by the suspect’s father
Sato lives about 600 meters from Tomitsuka’s residence in Toshima. They were not acquainted before the incident.
On Saturday, police took Sato in for voluntary questioning. During the session, the suspect divulged the location of her body.
Police later found her unclothed body on the property of the villa, which is owned by the suspect’s father.
Police believe that Sato used his vehicle to transport Tomitsuka’s body to Nasu after he killed her.
Other security camera footage also showed Sato carrying something wrapped in a blanket near Tomitsuka’s residence on the night she disappeared.
The location of Tomitsuka’s wallet remains unknown, police said.
Police plan to use the results of an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.
