Photo/Illutration Police officers investigate a house in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Jan. 18 where the bodies of a couple residing there were found. (Shomei Nagatsuma)

Police arrested a Filipino man in connection with two bodies discovered on Jan. 18 under the floorboards of a house in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward days after a Filipino woman was arrested in the case. 

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Bryan Jefferson Lising Dela Cruz, 34, on the night of Jan. 22 on suspicion of abandoning the corpses.

Police believe that Dela Cruz collaborated with Hazel Ann Baguisa Morales, 30, in dumping the bodies of Norihiro Takahashi, 55, self-employed, and his wife, Kimie, 52, who lived in the house, around Jan. 16.

Dela Cruz admitted to the allegations while Morales, who was arrested on Jan. 19, has denied the charge.

Dela Cruz, whose occupation is unknown, lives in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture. An immigration record shows that he arrived in Japan in July to work in the technical intern training program.

Two people believed to be Dela Cruz and Morales were separately recorded on a security camera near the Takahashi couple's house on Jan. 16, sources said.

They later headed in the direction of Morales’ home about 500 meters from the victims’ residence.

Footage from another security camera showed two people believed to be Dela Cruz and Morales disposing of blood-stained clothing, presumably those of the victims, at a garbage collection area near Morales’ home on and after Jan. 16.

The cause of death for both victims were injuries to the heart caused by being stabbed in the chest. A blood-stained kitchen knife was discovered at the crime scene.

Police are investigating the circumstances of their deaths, believing that they were murdered.

Morales had previously been in a relationship with the couple’s eldest son, according to sources. The Filipino woman had financial problems with her former boyfriend, police said. 

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