Man arrested over death of woman whose body was found in river

Police in Kasuya, Fukuoka Prefecture, said Monday they have arrested a 35-year-old construction worker on suspicion of killing a 38-year-old woman and dumping her body in a river.

According to police, the suspect, Tetsuya Koga, is accused of killing company employee Teruko Murao on July 6 by strangling her. Police said Koga and Murao apparently did not know each other.

Surveillance camera footage showed Koga’s car at the Sue River site where Murao’s body was dumped. Police said there were signs of a fight in a field near the river and believe Murao was killed there before her body was dumped in the river where it was found on July 8

Police initially charged Koga with abandoning a body but have upgraded the charge to murder.

Murao disappeared from a shopping mall where she had gone with her husband on the night of July 6 to buy bicycles. She left her husband to go to a fast food restaurant and do some shopping. About 9:30 p.m., she called her husband and said she’d head home on her bike, but she never showed up.

Later that night, Murao’s husband alerted police and her family that she was missing.

Police believe that somehow Koga ambushed Murao but he has so far given no information on how or where he did it. Her bicycle and some personal belongings were found near the river.

© Japan Today