Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024
A man serving a life sentence for killing a girl in western Japan two decades ago was arrested on Thursday for an alleged stabbing in 2006, while hinting at his involvement in the high-profile murder of a different girl the following year.
The arrest of Kunihiko Katsuta, 45, potentially signals a new phase in the investigation over the fatal stabbing of 7-year-old Yuzuki Unose, in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2007, which local police have been unable to solve.
Katsuta was handed an indefinite prison term by the Okayama District Court in 2022 for stabbing 9-year-old Yukiko Tsutsushio to death in Tsuyama, Okayama Prefecture neighboring Hyogo in 2004.
His possible involvement in other attacks targeting girls, including the 2007 case, emerged as investigators continued questioning him while he was behind bars, according to investigative sources.
On Thursday, Katsuta was arrested for allegedly attempting to kill a girl, a fourth grader in elementary school, in 2006 by stabbing her in the chest on a street in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture.
She was attacked on her way home from a cram school and security camera footage near the site showed a man carrying a backpack fleeing the scene, according to the sources.
In the 2007 case, Yuzuki, a second-grade elementary school pupil, was stabbed in her chest and stomach in front of her house after returning from a nearby park.
At the time of his arrest in the Tsuyama case in 2018, Katsuta was already serving time for stabbing a female junior high school student in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2015. He had also previously faced allegations of random attacks on other girls in the same prefecture.
© KYODO
16 Comments
Login to comment
falseflagsteve
Ruddy swine! Hold your hands up and bring some peace to the victims family.
piskian
Why is he allowed to hide his face?
He's a convicted murderer.
WoodyLee
Hang em, what the point of keeping this???
Speed
What was his MO? Just pleasure at seeing little girls die?
ian
How was he still stabbing kids while serving time
Haaa Nemui
Hmmm it is an oddly written article. I guess he had been arrested and sentenced to life after the killing but was arrested again while already serving time, not killed the girl while he was serving time. But yeah, it’s poorly written I think.
Abe234
WoodyLeeToday 05:18 pm JST
One because he can rot in jail. And two because he might bring closure to the families and thirdly he may have done some other victim. And
because sometimes we get people confessing to stuff they didn’t do.
kaimycahl
The guy needs to be erased he wants to hide his face and hide behind the crimes he committed. People like this don’t have a conscious nor should they recognize their own existence. Why entertain this guy in jail he is worthless.
Yohan
This person should never be released. Either jail or secure mental ward. What he did does not really make any sense, this guy most have something wrong within his brain.
3RENSHO
"A man serving a life sentence for killing a girl in western Japan two decades ago was arrested on Thursday for an alleged stabbing in 2006..."
Perhaps he was arrested on Thursday while already in prison? The timeline as written is confusing...
James
Kinda confusing
Read the dates. He was first arrested for a stabbing in 2015 and then again for crimes that so far go back as early as 2004 so far...
He is a serial killer and has been killing and stabbing young girls for what maybe nearly 15 years or more. Seems that the time line on individual cases is starting to catch up. He may have done a lot more that he hasn't been questioned on yet so we may see him being arrested again and again in the near future for other stabbings in other neighboring prefectures like Tottori, Hiroshima and Osaka they are not that far to travel to all at least can be reached within less than a day. For all we know he may have been doing stabbings every year or even more. I wonder if others have been arrested and convicted for his crimes. Hope they take it seriously and piece together a bigger picture.
Brian Wheway
This guy has definitely got a screw loose, stabbing little children? WTF, is going on in his head? What's his motive? What makes him even contemplate doing this? This loon needs looking up for good,
Legrande
Shame he couldn't get help with his issues before it spiraled out of control and caused death and misery to others
Aly Rustom
There's a special place in Hell for those who murder children
Chiao Chiao
He should hang.
dobre vam zajebava
3RENSHOToday 12:09 am JST
"A man serving a life sentence for killing a girl in western Japan two decades ago was arrested on Thursday for an alleged stabbing in 2006..."
Perhaps he was arrested on Thursday while already in prison? The timeline as written is confusing...yes EIGOWA MUZUKASHI DESUNE...editor may have day off here today as this sentence makes no sense whatsoever.
Hang him high why to wait?