KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested three persons, including an organized crime member, over the killing of an 18-year-old boy whose corpse was found in a river in Kawasaki City last year, reports TBS News (Oct. 21).
Police have accused Ryunosuke Kojitani, a 21-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, Hiroki Iwase, a 21-year-old resident of Misato City, Saitama Prefecture, and Takuma Tsumagari, a 21-year-old resident of Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, of killing Mizuki Takahashi, whose corpse was found floating off the shore of the Tama River in Tama Ward on December 2.
According to police, the boy was killed on November 23. When his body was found it was fully nude and floating face-up. There were no signs of any external wounds.
The results of an autopsy revealed that Takahashi, who is from Yokohama, died due to drowning, according to police.
The boy had gone missing in November. On the same day that his body was discovered, his mother reported to the Seya Police Station in Yokohama that his whereabouts were unknown.
The three suspects and the victim are acquaintances. Kojitani became a person of interest for police after they spoke with Takahashi’s acquaintances and examined security camera footage.
Boys quarelling
According to Nikkan Sports (Oct. 11), police are aware of a jogger who saw a group of boys quarreling about 400 meters upstream from the location of the discovery of the body.
Police are seeking the whereabouts of one other person who is believed to have participated in the killing.
