21-yr-old man arrested over dumping of 5-yr-old girl's body in Chiba

CHIBA, Japan, Dec. 6 Kyodo -
A 21-year-old unemployed man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of abandoning
the body of a 5-year-old girl in September in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo,
police said.
The suspect, Ryo Katsuki, was arrested on suspicion of dumping the body of
Yukimaro Narita, a nursery schooler from Chiba's Togane city, located some 58
kilometers from central Tokyo, on Sept. 21.
According to the police, Katsuki's fingerprints were detected on two plastic
shopping bags containing Yukimaro's shoes and clothes that were found in a
parking lot of a condominium, where the suspect lives, just 100 meters from the
site where the girl's body was found.
The police said that Katsuki told investigators, ''I was at home with a girl
and she became limp. So I carried her outside.''
They added that the suspect also confessed, ''I took the girl (to the site
where Yukimaro was found) and left her there (at the roadside).''
''I am the one who put the girl's shoes and clothes in the bags and threw them
away,'' he said, according to the police.
Yukimaro went missing after she was seen at her mother's workplace, a hospital,
around 11:20 a.m. on Sept. 21. Her mother, Taeko, 38, took Yukimaro to work
with her the previous day as she was on the night shift. Yukimaro had left the
hospital for a friend's home, but was found dead on a roadside 300 meters from
the hospital and close to a park about one hour later.
This suggested the incident took place in a short time period and in a narrow
area, prompting the police to investigate those who live in the locality or
around the crime scene by setting up a 70-strong investigation headquarters.
The two shopping bags are from a major supermarket and a local retailer,
respectively. The police also obtained images of Katsuki from security cameras
at local shops, investigative sources said.
The police pinned down Katsuki as a suspect as he had a record of chasing a
woman in the area.
The results of an autopsy suggest that Yukimaro may have been suffocated with
her mouth and nose covered by a cloth or a hand, according to the sources.
While Katsuki is believed to have had no acquaintance with Yukimaro, the police
are attempting to trace his movements on the day of the crime.
They will also investigate to see if the suspect, who had attended a public
school for students with special needs, can be held criminally responsible.
The police apparently believe Katsuki can be held criminally responsible
because he led a normal life after finishing the school in 2005, working for a
company making futons.
Earlier Saturday, Katsuki told investigators he met a girl aged around 5 on the
day in question but does not remember what happened afterwards, the police
said.
Right after the incident, he told police that he had stayed at home all day on
the day Yukimaro was found dead, but changed his story during Saturday's
questioning to say that he was in a library.
While questioning Katsuki on a voluntary basis from Saturday morning, the
police also searched his home to seek evidence to support the allegations.
==Kyodo
2008-12-06 23:10:31