TOKYO (TR) – A female college student found with multiple stab wounds to her neck outside her apartment room died on Thursday in what police believe was a murder.
Police said the woman, in her 20s and of Chinese nationality, was found outside her second-floor room in the corridor of her apartment in Nakano Ward past midnight on Thursday and rushed to a hospital but died shortly after, TBS News reports (November 3).
Numerous stab wounds were found on the woman’s neck, and her hands showed signs of attempted self-defense, said police, believing she died of blood loss.
An autopsy is planned on Friday to determine the cause of death, police said.
Roommate called police
The woman was living together with a female friend who attends the same Japanese language school, police said.
The woman went out on Wednesday night and returned home with her roommate, police said, but added they separated before entering the apartment room so her friend stepped into the room first, meaning the woman was likely assaulted while she was still in the corridor.
Her friend told police that she heard the woman scream and the sound of something banging against the door.
She made an emergency call saying there was “a weird person outside” and tried to open the door, but was unable to since the woman was lying in front of it, police said.
Responding officers found the woman unconscious and lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
A next-door neighbor told TBS News that they heard a “loud bang, like someone fell over. I was wondering what that was. I head stuff like she’s dangerous so come now and please hurry over here.”
TBS News is questioning why the woman and her roommate entered the apartment separately.