Police continue search for clues in murdered Shimane Univ student case

This poor girl and her family. To bad society doesnt allow us to take a pound of flesh from this perp once a day after he has been caught.

"including 110 Kinki area riot police"

Do Japanese police departments have dedicated "riot police"? Meaning, all they do is train and prepare to beat down protesters, rabid sports fans, etc.?

What are riot police doing searching woodland? Shouldn't that be the job of forensics and police? That said, every extra person on the case has to be a plus, though the mind boggles about how they'll go about solving this one.

I was curious about the riot police too. Apparently, the unit was formed in 1952 and they deal with crowd control, natural disasters and reinforce regular police when needed. Currently there are 10,000 in the riot force. I guess they are not busy now and could spare the 110 officers to help out in this case. I hope they also have some good forensics people on this one.

Yes there are riot police in Japan. These units stretch back to the social upheaval of the 1960s (anti-US/anti Vietnam) and 1970s (people like the Japanese Red Army). At the same time, however, the apathetic attitude of the modern population has meant that the riot squads don't get much hands on practice these days. I would assume they still park in front of certain embassies (as a warning to the right-wing crowd in their black buses), but I don't know what else they do.

With regard to this Shimane case, I hope the "search for clues" headline does not mean that the local plod have reached a dead end. Purely based on the details that have been released to the public (body parts, etc.), it would seem that this case should be No. 1 with a bullet for the police. I really hope that the cops find the nut job that did these heinous acts sooner rather than later. Moreover, any result that ends up with the assailant DOA would draw no criticism from me.

The murderer either planned it well or lucked out in spreading her parts to many areas. It's possible he might have be informed by news of the search for more evidence and moved the rest of her body to parts unknown.

Seems like they might want to invest in a bloodhound or two.

yeah, and ? isn't this what they're supposed to do ?

They should also be on the lookout on some parolees who have killed more than one and were within the neighboring prefectures. This gruesome crime doesn't seem to be a work of a first timer. I might be too opinionated. Pardon. Just too sad losing a gambatte iru young lady.

Whether this perpetrator is a first timer or not, this girl won't be his last. I hope they catch this guy soon and that no one else gets killed.

They've got to capture this cannibal hannibal because until they do, we won't be able to sleep easy. They should ban all horror and gory movies because that's where these weidoes get their ideas from. I guess that's asking the impossible.

@tigerguy- I seriously doubt this case has anything to do with movies. The police mentioned earlier that they were looking into that angle, but I doubt anything will turn up that way. They're better off looking into that vehicle that drove by her route home. Anyway, horror movies are just fiction and if they weren't around, these unstable creeps would get their ideas somewhere else.

Previous killers have been found to be in possession of large collections of particularly gruesome videos/DVDs.

Remember that Otaku serial child-killer Miyazaki? http://www.japantimes.co.jp/weekly/news/nn2008/nn20080621a1.htm

I am happy if the police address this from every possible angle, including examining records of video rental stores. Perhaps they also need to try and engage the killer(s) in some form of communication...

@nandakandamanda- How many people watch horror movies who DON'T dismember people? Let's face it, horror movies are a red herring. It's far better for the police to research the other leads they have instead of invading the privacy of people who rent horror movies. Besides, what are they classifying as horror here? Zombie b-movies, Takashii Miike films or some of those really sick snuff style films? I would like the police to focus on researching every VALUABLE angle and ignore anything that would just waste time. I think one of my biggest complaints with the Ichihashi investigation was how the police followed some of the most bizarre angles (he's in Shinjuku having homosexual sex, he dresses in drag to evade capture) while almost ignoring valuable ideas. I just don't want to see this case ending up with the same conclusion, a frightening sociopath on the loose for 2 years. This girl deserves better than that, and like I wrote before, this guy will probably do this again. My advice? Follow up on that vehicle, canvass the neighborhoods, ask people if they have noticed any men who happened to take an unusual interest in her. Follow VALUABLE leads, don't get bogged down in crazy hypothetical hobbies. The police can examine his DVD collection once they've caught this guy.

trinklets2: Agreed. This definitely doesn't sound like the work of a first-timer. They found her fingernails? That's some deep depravity right there. You don't progress from killing someone to tearing out their fingernails in the first go. That sounds like escalating behavior to me. Now, it may just be that wild animals scavenged the fleshy parts of this poor girl's hands and left the nails, but that doesn't seem very likely.

Police, you probably already know this, but PLEASE investigate other unsolved crimes in the surrounding area that may be related. Animal mutilations, assault and battery, rape charges; if this guy has been escalating his behavior, he must have started somewhere. He's GOT to be on someone's radar. I pray they find him and lock him away before anyone else's son or daughter becomes a victim.

As always, RIP, Hiraoka-chan.

Sounds suspiciously like the Silence of the Lambs. Copycat?

Once more...the text is written in a disgusting english.