Chiba prefectural police have arrested a 31-year-old man from Shizuoka Prefecture for allegedly making an online threat to kill the mother of Misaki Ogura, a 7-year-old girl who went missing at a campsite in Yamanashi Prefecture last September.
Police said the mother, Tomoko Ogura, 37, was threatened by Katsuji Saitsu, a construction worker from Shizuoka, in messages he posted on Facebook from Oct 22 to Nov 16, 2019, Sankei Shimbun reported. Saitsu sent multiple messages in which he told Ogura, "I know you’re the culprit. Hurry up and turn yourself in. I'm going to kill you."
Ogura said that in addition to feeling distressed since Misaki's disappearance, she was scared of Saitsu's threats. She also said she had been slandered by others on the internet and does not feel safe.
Misaki, from Narita City in Chiba Prefecture, had come to the campsite with her mother and group of about 30 family friends. She was last seen by her mother at about 3:40 p.m. on Saturday Sept 21, running by herself after a group of children in the woods.
A total of about 1,700 police officers, firefighters, and Self-Defense Force personnel were mobilized to locate her whereabouts.
Drones and tracker dogs were used and long grass was cut down. A stream that runs through the area was searched as well as a nearby dam. But no trace of Misaki has been found.
On Oct 6, the large-scale search was suspended by Yamanashi Prefectural Police.
Anyone with nay information about Misaki is asked to call police at 0554-22-0110.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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Toshihiro
I really would be alarmed if the guy had no affiliations with the family whatsoever and began sending threats. Sounds suspicious.
Ah_so
We live in the internet age - people believe all sorts of rumours.
rgcivilian1
Now just another person mouthing off frustration at their own failures vs facing reality and make things happen positively in their own lives. This whole case sounds suspicious from the very beginning unless the police are holding back key evidence found from the public in order to conduct a proper investigation. For example, aside the mom, there are no witnesses that the child was even seen there on that day. The kids themselves would have recognized seeing her from that close distance yet nothing reported by any of the them in the area? Again this is only speculation based on reported news.
Do the hustle
I cannot condone his actions, but this girl disappeared in a semi-rural area and a large scale search was started within hours of her disappearance.
Vanessa Carlisle
Semi-rural? The place is extremely rural! Its a handful of mostly empty houses surrounded almost untouched steep mountains and forest.
I wonder if that is really true. The reporting on such details has been insufficient.
Yet nobody knows anything?
This truly is an odd case but the mostly likely explanation is foul play. But whose foul play? Anyone who was there and not a child is going to be suspect.
Jonathan Prin
Dogs can smell during 2 days.
If no smell, means she was not there...
Death threats are to be criminally charged.
Garthgoyle
There are some really nasty people out (in?) there behind those keyboards. Why would anyone try to hurt someone for going through the difficult times this woman is presently going through? Wonder how perfect those people are.
hooktrunk2
Other news have reported the extent to which people have bullied this woman. It isn't just this guy. Her phone number and address have been posted online with complete strangers posting photos of the outside of her home(creepy!) on message boards which she has posted peas for information about her daughter. People caller at all hours , but don't say anything or outright blame her. And the list goes on. I have no idea whether she is telling the truth or not, but online bullying is the work of cowards.
Aly Rustom
So much for Japanese WA.
Paul14
Threats to kill are illegal in most civilized countries. Glad the police caught this deranged keyboard warrior. Let's hope he receives a suitable custodial sentence and/or the psychiatric help he requires.
David Michael Lockard
A gps chip would prevent this.
Mark
He could be the person behind the girls disappearance.
Toasted Heretic
Obviously a disturbed individual. Sadly, the internet is a haven for such angry, impotent types.
It's not unusual at all, plenty of big family (and extended families and friends take holidays together). Irish Travellers are not mafiosi.