TOTTORI (TR) – A 34-year-old man accused in the murder of his possibly pregnant girlfriend eight years ago married another woman shortly after the crime, which was likely framed as a suicide, police have revealed, reports Kyodo News (Jan. 29).
On around July 15, 2011, Fumiaki Araki allegedly used a nylon rope to fatally strangle Miho Onishi, 28, on the roof of the office of a gasoline station in Sakaiminato City. Her body was found on the roof the next day.
“I killed her on the roof,” Araki was quoted by the Sakaiminato Police Station in admitting to the charges upon his arrest last week.
In the latest development, police revealed that they used a social-networking service to discover that Araki married another woman with whom he was engaged in a relationship about two weeks after allegedly killing Onishi.
Police are investigating whether Araki committed the crime after learning Onishi was pregnant.
Noose and rod
Police also said that the rope found at the scene had been tied into the shape of a noose and attached to an iron rod. It is speculated that the suspect wanted it to appear that Onishi hanged herself from the rod with the noose in intentionally taking her life.
Onishi was a resident of Niimi City, Okayama Prefecture. Meanwhile, Araki lives in Takahashi City, Okayama. Her family reported her missing in January, 2014. The following September, police confirmed that the corpse found on the roof of the station was that of Onishi.
Araki surfaced as a person of interest for police after they interviewed her acquaintances, police said previously.
