Photo/Illutration The entrance of the suspects’ home in Sapporo is covered with a blue sheet during a police search on July 24. (Masanari Matsuda)

SAPPORO--A murder case involving a naked, headless body in a love hotel has taken a tragic turn after a relative of three people arrested told The Asahi Shimbun that the victim had earlier assaulted the family’s daughter.

Police arrested Runa Tamura, 29, and her father Osamu, a 59-year-old doctor, on July 24.

Later that day, Runa’s mother, 60-year-old Hiroko, poured out her heart to a relative in a 30-minute phone call.

“Neither Osamu nor I ever thought that (Runa) would kill someone,” the relative quoted Hiroko as saying.

According to the relative, Hiroko said the man had previously assaulted Runa.

Runa told her parents that she had met the victim at a restaurant in Sapporo's Susukino entertainment district and that she had been tricked and assaulted by him.

Osamu told the man to have no more contact with Runa, the relative added. The man agreed to this, and, as a result, Osamu did not contact police.

Hiroko was arrested the following day when the man’s head was found in the family home in Sapporo.

All three members of the Tamura family are suspected of involvement in the man’s death on the night of July 1. His naked body was found in a hotel in Susukino.

The Asahi Shimbun is not naming the victim.

Meanwhile, the relative revealed that the man had contacted Runa again. She told her parents this after the alleged murder.

If they had known this, the relative said, “the incident would not have occurred.”

Police are currently holding the three family members on suspicion of damaging, abandoning and illegally possessing a body. They are suspected of conspiring to decapitate the victim with a blade-like object at the hotel and then taking the head to their home.

Police have not disclosed whether the three admit to the allegations.

“The full-scale investigation is about to begin,” a senior investigator said. “Since the victim is dead, we will investigate the incident carefully, including checking the facts.”

Security camera footage showed the victim entering the hotel with a shorter person carrying a large suitcase around 10:50 p.m. on July 1.

From the footage and other investigations, police believe it was Runa who entered the hotel with the victim after Osamu drove her there.

Police also found that the daughter and her father had purchased a saw and a suitcase in Sapporo. They believe these items were used in the incident.

(This article was written by Ryuichiro Fukuoka and Chifumi Shinya.)

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