THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
May 20, 2020 at 14:50 JST
Nicholas Zepeda Contreras, left, a suspect in the disappearance of a Japanese woman, at Chile’s Supreme Court in Santiago in March (From a Twitter account of Chile’s judicial branch)
Chile’s Supreme Court on May 18 authorized the extradition of a Chilean suspect to France to be questioned in the suspected slaying of a Japanese woman missing since December 2016.
French authorities suspect Nicholas Zepeda Contreras, 29, was involved in the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Narumi Kurosaki.
Kurosaki, a student from the University of Tsukuba, went to Besancon in France to pursue her studies.
Investigators believe Zepeda was with Kurosaki on the evening of Dec. 4, 2016, the last time she was seen alive.
The pair were said to have dined together that evening and then returned to Kurosaki’s dormitory. She has not been seen since.
Zepeda returned to Chile afterward. French authorities opened a murder investigation and asked the Chilean court to transfer custody to France.
Chile’s Supreme Court decided to extradite Zepeda to France on April 2, but Zepeda appealed.
“I am relieved to hear about the court’s decision,” said a 27-year-old friend of Kurosaki. “I hope Narumi is found as soon as possible.”
(This article was written by Gen Okada in Sao Paolo and Kaede Sano.)
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