Man arrested for murder of woman whose body he left in Ibaraki forest

Police in Tokyo on Friday charged a 34-year-old man, already under arrest on suspicion of illegally confining a 23-year-old woman and then leaving her body in a forest in Ibaraki Prefecture, with her murder in June.

Hiroyuki Sampei, a company employee from Minamiashigara, Kanagawa Prefecture, was initially arrested on suspicion of confining Rina Arano, who lived in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, at his family’s vacation home in Hitachiota, Ibaraki Prefecture, for four days, and then leaving her body about one kilometer away in a nearby forest, Kyodo News reported.

Arano was last seen on the morning of Sunday June 5 when she told her parents she was going to meet a friend. On June 8, her parents filed a missing persons report. Her body was found on the morning of June 18.

Police said Sampei, who was arrested on June 14, told them he met Arano on a social network site and arranged to meet her at JR Mito Station in Ibaraki Prefecture on June 5. Surveillance camera footage taken outside the station showed Sampei and Arano getting into a car and driving off in the direction of Sampei's home.

Police said Sampei has admitting taking Arano to his vacation home but denied confining her for days. He also admitted handcuffing Arano briefly but said he did so with her consent.

Sampei told police that after Arano left his home, he doesn’t know where she went. However, police said Arano’s smartphone was found at the home.

Police said there were no signs of external injuries on Arano’s body and that an autopsy revealed she had been strangled to death.

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