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Police in Okinawa City said Monday they are questioning an 18-year-old youth over the murder of the director of a non-profit organization.
Shizue Ueta, 63, the head of Support Center Yumesaki, an NPO that helps truant school children, was found stabbed to death in her apartment by her daughter on April 9. She had been stabbed in the back.
The first floor of the building housed the NPO office, while Ueta and her daughter, 23, lived on the second floor.
Police said they found the fingerprints of the youth -- who is already under arrest for a robbery -- in Ueta's apartment, Fuji TV reported.
The suspect's grandmother was quoted as saying he is a good boy who could not commit murder, though she admitted he had been in trouble for stealing before. She also said he had been to Ueta's apartment before, which would account for his fingerprints being found there.
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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sensei258
Way to cover up for your kin grandma.
Illyas
@sensei258
Right, because nobody has ever been wrongly accused of murder.
Robert Dykes
Well. Only two ways this can go. He will confess: Case closed. He simply keeps his mouth close:. He goes free.
Illyas
Or he could be innocent? Or is innocent until proven guilty not a tenant of the Japanese legal system?
Commodore Shmidlap (Retired)
That's unfortunate. I'm not going to weigh in on presumed innocence or assumed guilt or any of that stuff as far as the suspect goes. That's for the courts. But whatever happened here is a tragedy nevertheless. Truant school children need help and they just lost someone who was there to do just that.
Alistair Carnell
Or even innocent until days of intense questioning, and sleep deprivation get a confession. It's not too unrealistic to imagine the Jcops 'fitting up' a local undesirable, when they don't have any leads.
ham21
Good thing the daughter didn't walk in or there may have been 2 murders. Sad to lose a NP volunteer in such a needed service.
LFRAgain
The police are currently only questioning the young man. They haven't arrested him yet, that I know of. Which means the infamous 2-week minimum confinement and harsh interrogation techniques are very likely not at play here. After all, the kid's fingerprints were found, but odds are high that other kids' fingerprints were also found. Considering the victim worked with troubled youths and had her home just above the offices she worked from, the list of possible suspects should be considerably long.
Yubaru
Explaining this would take a wall of text, I suggest you use google to find out the reality here.
More like 3 weeks, and they only officially "arrest" someone who they are going to charge, and dont think for a minute that just because he is underage will prevent the cops from harshly interrogating him.
I know the woman who was murdered, she was well known and well liked by even the kids she was helping, it's a huge loss for the community.
sensei258
She also said he had made sandwiches there before, which would account for his fingerprints on the knife. Also, he very recently ran into the residence to look for his lost puppy, which would account for his bloody footprints.
toshiko
RIP.