crime

Boyfriend arrested over murder of 24-year-old nurse

28 Comments

Police in Kodaira, Tokyo, said Sunday they have arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of murdering his 24-year-old girlfriend, a nurse whose body was found in the bathtub of her apartment on Friday night.

Takagi's boyfriend, Shunichi Kono, with whom she lived in the apartment, had been missing since Sept 24. He was arrested in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Sunday afternoon.

The nurse, Rika Takagi, failed to show up for work at 4 p.m. on Friday, Fuji TV reported. Her supervisor called her but got no answer, so he went over to the apartment, but saw no lights on inside the apartment. He then called Takagi's parents who had no knowledge of their daughter's whereabouts. Following that, the supervisor contacted the koban (police box) near Takagi's apartment. Police found her body at around 10 p.m.

Police said Takagi was lying naked on her back in the empty bathtub. The door and windows of the apartment were all locked.

An autopsy revealed Saturday that she had been strangled to death, police said.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

28 Comments
Login to comment

"they are looking for Takagi’s 25-year-old boyfriend who has gone missing..."

I hope they catch him very quickly... :-(

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Poor girl

6 ( +6 / -0 )

They'll probably find the BF gaming from a tree in the forest. Yeah, Japan is a pretty safe country, but I would be very interested to know the demographic breakdown of murders. It seems to be mostly the elderly killed by their children, girls killed by ex/boyfriends, random attacks on the defenseless or children killed by psychos. Very few murders involve robberies or fights. Is this a land of emotionally unstable and cowardly predators?

14 ( +15 / -1 )

She wanted to break up with him. He went berserk and killed her.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Whole lotta speculation going on here based on no information. Seems legit.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

VEry sad!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"Her supervisor called her but got no answer, so [her supervisor] went over to the apartment, but saw no lights on inside the apartment. [Her supervisor] then called Takagi’s parents..."

She was obviously very close to her supervisor!! ;-)

-16 ( +0 / -16 )

" Police also said they are looking for Takagi’s 25-year-old boyfriend who has gone missing. "

Well, that is a good idea, I´d say.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

She wanted to break up with him. He went berserk and killed her.

possessive mentality , so what ?

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

@The Godfather My wife gets calls all the time while were are eating dinner from her Supervisor/Bosses yes they are male.Does this phase me or do I think something of it well no.But if you have some sort of insecurities going on suppose you would start thinking that kind of thing.It is common practice to tell your employee your next of kin.Her supervisor was worried about her and made the call.She more than likely never missed a day of work too.RIP young lady and lets hope the killer is caught quickly.Nobody needs people like this running around society.Deepest condolences to her family and friends.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

@Glasshouse - "My wife gets calls all the time while were are eating dinner from her Supervisor/Bosses yes they are male..."

There's not really much I can add is there... ;-)

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Once again: " I LOVE you Honey, therefore, I'm going to KILL you ". (instead of letting her GO)

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The follow up will read "...Yes I strangled her, but I didn't mean to kill her."

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Interesting that this is showing up as an amended story, meaning that the comments attached to the original story remain, but the headline and the initial text with the update has been added. Might be a little confusing for a first-time reader of the story to then see the comments which are clearly linked to the original story, before the boyfriend was arrested.

Just making an observation.

In any event, glad that they have arrested the boyfriend. Hopefully, the truth regarding his involvement will become clear.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

"Police... have arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of murdering his 24-year-old girlfriend"

I hope that the poor girl will get some justice now... and that all the Japanese joking this year about Christmas Cake hang their heads in shame... :-(

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"My wife gets calls all the time while were are eating dinner from her Supervisor/Bosses yes they are male..."

I was a supervisor to my Japanese employees, and after the working day was done, I had no need to contact them. Unless it was for a specific reason like they were cancelling work at the base due to bad weather or some other event and I had to notify them of some type of situation that was really outside the norm. But to just call all the time shows a bad reflection on the boss, unless you are in some type of Emergency management or time critical life dependent job.

Her supervisor called her but got no answer, so he went over to the apartment, but saw no lights on inside the apartment. He then called Takagi’s parents who had no knowledge of their daughter’s whereabouts.

I would be curious to know what type of job she had. As a 24 yr. old, going in at 4 pm, and if she missed a day, would it really require the supervisor to go over to ones house and peep in or to call the parents. If she had been out running errands and just was late, is that a reason for the boss to call your parents and report you? In the end, for this case it was a good thing that an overbearing boss did this, since it lessened the time that the killer was going unnoticed and gave the police enough of a heads up to track him before he got lost in the mix, but seriously, if you miss a day or running late, does your boss need to call your parents?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Moral of the story. "Never break up in private. Do it in public."

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The moral of what story? It certainly isn't this one.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@The Godfather thank you for trying..@Alphaape Yes please read the article!!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

DisillusionedSep. 26, 2015 - 06:41PM JST They'll probably find the BF gaming from a tree in the forest. Yeah, Japan is a pretty safe country, but I would be very interested to know the demographic breakdown of murders. It seems to be mostly the elderly killed by their children, girls killed by ex/boyfriends, random attacks on the defenseless or children killed by psychos. Very few murders involve robberies or fights. Is this a land of emotionally unstable and cowardly predators?

Nearly all murders everywhere in the world are committed by family and friends, this is not a peculiarity of Japan at all. Ironically one of the headlines today is a murder robbery of a restaurant though.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"He was arrested on Sunday afternoon," it says in the article.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

She possibly had BF troubles and had probably mentioned it at work so that is why the boss checked up on her when she was a no show.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The Japanese news has been saying that she had never missed work without notice, and that her (female) supervisor became concerned when she could not be contacted. Whether it was she or another (male?) supervisor who went to check, I haven't heard.

It's not that unusual, in my experience, for co-workers, and sometimes supervisors or their delegates, to go to a colleague's house if at all practical, to check on their condition if there is any worry that they might have become suddenly ill or met with an accident and thus been unable to contact their workplace. If the employee is living alone, or thought to be, it's even more likely, again in my experience. That was the case in the large company in which I spent much of my career, and in a couple of universities where I worked, and I've heard it from acquaintances in several other companies and schools.

It's not so much Big Brother or an unwarranted invasion of privacy as legitimate concern that the employee might be in trouble. Carbon monoxide poisoning, unconsciousness from a fall or heatstroke...there are numerous possibilities, including, unfortunately, foul play like this.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Polar cities "He went berserk"

No need to use such words as "berserk" when describing a usual piece of human trash.

@TheGodfather"She was obviously very close to her supervised!"

Unlike western society, where a common rule is to treat folks like sh**, in many countries people care and help each other.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Unlike western society, where a common rule is to treat folks like sh**, in many countries people care and help each other.

Care has two meaning in japanese ,,,, osewaninarimashita,,,, hogo suru ,,,

It differs according to the act done ,,,,

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I asked a friend of mine who is a nurse and she confirmed that for single staff members, supervisors WILL do a welfare check in case they do not call or show up for work. She also indicated that if no contact is made, next of kin will be called, then the police.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites