Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tokyo man accused in murder of teen girl ‘wanted to strangle a person’

Kana Iwase
Kana Iwase

TOKYO (TR) – A 29-year-old man in custody for allegedly killing a teenage girl implied to police that his crime was premeditated, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Nov. 15).

Masahiro Aoki, a part-time employee living in Edogawa Ward’s Kita Koiwa area, told officers from the Koiwa Police Station that the murder of Kana Iwase, 17, was something he wanted to do. “Living life is difficult, and I wanted to strangle a person before I killed myself,” the suspect is quoted by police.

On Saturday, Aoki notified police in Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture by telephone that he had killed a person. At approximately 8:00 p.m., officers from Koiwa arrived at the suspect’s residence and discovered Iwase’s unclothed body in his bathtub.

In addition to murder, police charged Aoki with the theft of 7,000 yen from the victim’s bag.

Until last month, Aoki and Iwase, a third-year high school student, were co-workers at a convenience store in Katsushika Ward.

On November 12, Aoki met up with the victim at approximately 1:00 p.m. at JR Koiwa Station under the pretense that he had cosmetics samples to give her. He then took her back to his apartment.

In committing the crime, Aoki came up from behind Iwase inside the apartment and strangled her with his hands. He also utilized a part of the school uniform she was wearing.

According to the Mainichi Shimbun (Nov. 16), Aoki threw away the victim’s phone on the day of the crime in an attempt to avoid getting caught.

When Iwase did not come home from school that day, her mother contacted police.