Photo/Illutration Police escort Kang Gwang-gi from the Osaki Police Station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward early on May 1. (Jin Nishioka)

Police arrested two men who are believed to be the last ones to see a Tokyo couple alive before their charred corpses were found near a river in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, sources said.

Four people are now suspected of involvement in the disposal of the bodies of Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, and his wife, Sachiko, 56, both from Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward.

But police are still trying to pinpoint the mastermind behind the crime and how the Takarajimas died.

Early on May 1, the Metropolitan Police Department and Tochigi prefectural police jointly announced the arrests of two 20-year-olds, Kang Gwang-gi and Kirato Wakayama, on suspicion of destruction of corpses.

Police arrested Ryoken Hirayama, 25, on April 21 and Hikaru Sasaki, 28, on April 29 in connection with the bodies, which were found on the morning of April 16.

According to investigative sources, Hirayama gave the keys to his car to Kang and Wakayama on April 15 at a convenience store in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward.

Hirayama also instructed the two to drive the car to an empty lot in the same ward to meet up with the Takarajimas at around midnight, the sources said.

The two later drove the car to Tochigi Prefecture, according to the sources.

During police questioning, Hirayama said he received a request to dispose of bodies, and that he asked Kang and Wakayama to carry out the job.

Hirayama also told police he called them by their nicknames because that was the extent of the information he had on them.

The three suspects had met between late last year and January, and they went out drinking on a number of occasions after that, according to the sources.

Police used security camera footage to identify Kang and Wakayama and obtained arrest warrants for them. The two were placed on the police wanted list on April 27.

Kang was detained on April 30 at a hotel in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, while he was with friends. Later that same day, Wakayama was arrested at a friend’s home in Chiba city.

Blood stains were found in the garage of the vacant house in Shinagawa Ward where the Takarajimas met with Kang and Wakayama, the investigative sources said.

Sachiko’s blood, her driver’s license as well as zip ties and adhesive tape were found in Hirayama’s car.

Police are questioning Kang and Wakayama about what transpired at the vacant house, whether they were under specific instructions to commit a crime, and who gave the order.

(This article was written by Minami Endo, Shomei Nagatsuma and Hiromichi Fujita.)

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