KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of the boyfriend of a woman found dead in a river in Hiratsuka City last year, it was learned on Thursday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 15).
The suspect, a man in his 30s whose name was not provided, is sought on charges of abandoning a corpse.
At midnight on October 27, Ayana Yoshida, a 26-year-old woman from Atsugi City, left word with her mother in Yokohama that she was leaving to pick up her belongings from the apartment of her former boyfriend. She was not heard from again.
On November 5, Kanagawa police discovered the body of Yoshida lying atop two futons in the Sagami River. The futons had been wrapped in a plastic sheet that itself was bound tightly by a rope used for construction work.
The top half of the victim was clothed, but her underwear had been removed. On the right side of her head, there were signs that she had been beaten, and her skull had been fractured. On top of the futons was a pair of sinkers, composed of stone ballast.
The results of an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be blows to the head.
News reports following the discovery indicated that Yoshida had been coping with a stalker.
Update: Kanagawa police on Thursday morning arrested Seiji Kamioka, 34, on charges of abandoning a corpse, reports TBS News (Jan. 15). A DNA analysis of material left at the scene of the crime has matched that of the suspect, who has admitted to the allegations.
