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Saitama man admits strangling ‘suicidal’ woman, dismembering her corpse

SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police have arrested a 31-year-old man for allegedly strangling a missing woman at his residence in Saitama City seven years ago.

During the course of the investigation, police learned that Jun Saito, a 31-year-old resident of Omiya Ward, also dismembered the corpse of the 21-year-old Kaho Miyamoto, who lived in Ibaraki Prefecture.

On Wednesday, police sent Saito to the Saitama Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of murder. The suspect, who was arrested on Monday, allegedly strangled her around January 4, 2018.

At the time, he was targeting women who wanted to take their lives, reports NHK (June 18).

“I strangled her to death with a rope on the day we met. The murder was consensual. I have been haunted by the desire to kill people since I was a child,” he told the Omiya Police Station. “I thought about committing a random attack on someone on a street, and even stole the smartphone of another woman I didn’t know as practice, but I gave up because the risk of being caught was high. decided to look for people who were suicidal.”

He also stated, “I thought that if a woman wanted to commit suicide, the police investigation would not reach her, and it would be convenient for me, a person with homicidal desires. I also had the woman write a suicide note.”

Jun Saito (X)

“Skull and leg bones”

Saito, who lives with his parents in the apartment, met Miyamoto on social media in November 2017.

On January 4, 2018, Miyamoto wrote a note to her family, “I am going to a live-in part-time job.” She then took a train from JR Tsuchiura Station in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture to Omiya Station to meet Saito, whose parents were away. Her family filed a missing persons report with Ibaraki Prefectural Police that same day.

Saito told her to remove her SIM card from her smartphone. Police believe that was to cover her location.

To prevent discovery of the body by his parents, Saito utilized a block on his door.

Earlier this year, police began investigating Saito over the alleged theft of another woman’s smartphone. When they searched his apartment on May 15, they found three skull specimens lined up on a shelf with a glass sliding door and leg and neck bones.

The suspect explained that one was the skull of Miyamoto. The results of a DNA analysis proved to be a match for the victim, police said. The leg bones also belonged to Miyamoto.

The other two skulls proved to be a human bone specimen purchased online and a wood model, neither of which was related to the crime.

“We can’t believe it”

During questioning, Saito also hinted at dismembering Miyamoto’s body after the murder. “I’ve been interested in dismemberment since I was a child, and I have a certain amount of knowledge about it,” he said.

Police seized knives, saws and numerous other tools from his residence that he is believed to have used. He also told police that he discarded a portion of her body in a garbage dump.

“We can’t believe it, and we don’t want to believe it,” read a statement from Miyamoto’s family. “She was a kind, earnest girl who cared about the feelings of those around her. For now, our family and I would like to quietly mourn our daughter.”