crime

Man in prison for attempted murder arrested for killing woman in Kawasaki tunnel in 2006

11 Comments

A 37-year-old man, who is currently serving a jail sentence for attempting to kill a woman in 2007, has been arrested on suspicion of killing another woman in 2006 in a tunnel in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Yuri Kuronuma, a 27-year-old part-time worker, was fatally stabbed multiple times in the stomach and chest on Sept 23, 2006, in a Miyamae Ward tunnel. The tunnel is about 1.5 kilometers from the site where a 40-year-old woman was stabbed twice in the back in April of 2007. She survived the attack.

Hirokazu Suzuki, then 26, was arrested shortly after that crime. Suzuki, who lived near the scene, visited the Miyamae police station about an hour after the 40-year-old woman was stabbed and told police that he had sustained injuries to his hands when he tried to prevent a man from assaulting a woman after hearing her scream. He also told police that he returned home after losing sight of the culprit, treated his hands and changed his clothes.

The victim's accounts, combined with factual circumstances at the scene, led the police to conclude that Suzuki hurt himself with a knife to make it look as if he had been attacked, they said.

In April 2009, Suzuki was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder.

Police said the first hint that he may have been also responsible for killing Kuronuma came in January  2016, Fuji TV reported.  Kanagawa Prefectural Police received a postcard from Suzuki, who was in a prison in Tochigi Prefecture, implying that he had killed Kuronuma and saying that he wanted to talk about the Kuronuma case. During questioning, he told police that since being abused by a woman earlier in his life, he has constantly had the urge to stab women. He also said he had stabbed Kuronuma twice.

Police said that while there have been some inconsistencies in Suzuki’s story, Kuronuma’s DNA was detected on his shoes and inside his vehicle.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police obtained an arrested warrant on Monday and arrested Suzuki on Tuesday.

Upon hearing the news, Kuronuma’s father expressed relief by stating, “I feel like I can finally see the light...speaking on behalf of my family, we are extremely pleased that [the case] is heading in the right direction.”

© Kyodo/JapanToday

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

11 Comments
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Kuronuma’s DNA was detected on the man’s shoes and inside his vehicle

When did they detect this? The crime was 11 years ago and the guy has been in prison for 8 years. It seems highly unlikely that they could find Kuronuma's DNA on his shoes after such a long time, or even when they arrested him for the second crime seven months after the first.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

It seems highly unlikely that they could find Kuronuma's DNA on his shoes after such a long time

Why? They have recovered neanderthal DNA, which is a lot longer than this period of time.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This sounds like a crock of crap, finding DNA after 8 years! Seriously?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Why? They have recovered Neanderthal DNA, which is a lot longer than this period of time.

Neanderthal DNA has been recovered from undisturbed skeletal remains of significant size.

If you walk around in a pair of shoes for several months or years they are going to pick up all kinds of dirt / DNA from many different people in very small amounts. At the same time dirt and DNA is constantly falling off the shoes. Given that, do you really believe there will be sufficient material to give a reliable DNA match to a particular person after several months? I doubt it, unless for some reason they had this guy's shoes and car in storage since his arrest.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Sounds like his admission is what got him caught. If he hadn’t gone to confess he would have been able to stab two people and get away with it.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

some people may have the opinion that he should go onto death row

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why would a man who went to the lengths of deliberately cutting himself with a knife to avoid suspicion of a murder suddenly decide to confess to it?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Good on the good Samaritan for helping the woman but, after losing sight of the attacker, rather than call the police or an ambulance, or go back & check on the woman he just went straight home?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I guess with his 10 year sentence about to end he's decided to stay longer by confessing his other crime.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Talk about dragging your feet! 8 years to find DNA in his car?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Talk about dragging your feet! 8 years to find DNA in his car?

They weren't looking for that DNA for 8 years. When they found out that it may exist, they looked for it, and found it much quicker than 8 years.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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