By ATSUSHI TAKAHASHI/ Staff Writer
October 24, 2023 at 17:40 JST
A girl’s body was found in this vehicle in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture, on Oct. 19. (Yoichi Tsubura)
UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Prefecture—The suspect connected to the strangulation death of a 15-year-old girl whose body was found in a rental car had met her through a dating app, police sources said.
Azuki Sakamaki, a first-year high school student from Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, is believed to have been killed on Oct. 17 after meeting the suspect, Tatsuya Yasuzumi, after school, the sources said.
Yasuzumi, 28, was arrested on Oct. 19 on suspicion of abandoning a body.
He was in the driver’s seat of the rental car when the body was discovered in the back seat at 3 a.m. that day in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture.
Police said the two had matched on a dating app and had apparently arranged to meet.
An autopsy revealed that Sakamaki died of suffocation from pressure on her neck.
She also had scrapes and bruises on the front of her body, suggesting that she fought back against her attacker. She was found in what appeared to be her school uniform.
Yasuzumi, who is from Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, has admitted to the allegation of abandoning her body, the sources said.
A large suitcase and mobile phones, including Sakamaki’s, were also found in the car, which Yasuzumi had rented in Utsunomiya.
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