Man charged with murder of woman in Tokyo apartment

Crime Dec. 23, 2012 - 06:43AM JST ( 10 )

TOKYO —

Police on Saturday indicted a 23-year-old man for murder in connection with the death of a 34-year-old woman in her apartment in Tokyo’s Itabashi on Nov 21.

Kumi Arai was stabbed to death at around 3 p.m. at her apartment near Narimasu Station on the Tobu Tojo Line. She died from at least 10 stab wounds to her chest and back. Her body was discovered by her husband. Her wallet and cell phone were stolen.

The suspect, identified as Genki Matsuo, was arrested last month and charged with theft after he withdrew 250,000 yen from the victim’s bank account using a convenience store ATM. On Saturday, a police spokesman said DNA evidence from Arai was found on Matsuo’s shoe, and the charge was changed to murder, NTV reported.

Matsuo lives only 700 meters away from the apartment where Kumi Arai was murdered. Matsuo, who has been unemployed since quitting his job at a karaoke parlor in October, has refused to talk about Arai’s murder, police said.

According to police, Matsuo closely matched the description of a man in a suit who was filmed by an apartment security camera pressing the intercom button at Arai’s apartment at 3 p.m. The same man was seen at around 4:30 p.m. at a clothing store near Ikebukuro Station where he purchased a change of clothes. Shortly before 5 p.m., he was seen going into a pachinko parlor in his suit and coming out in his new clothes.

Police said that the suspect then went to a convenience store where he withdrew the money from Arai’s bank account.

Japan Today