Suspect arrested after body parts of missing girl, 6, are found in Japan
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 24 September, 2014, 10:59pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 25 September, 2014, 2:42am
Kyodo in Kobe
Policemen inspect the site (covered with blue sheets) where the dismembered body of a six-year-old Japanese girl was found in Kobe, western Japan. Photo: Kyodo
Police arrested a 47-year-old man yesterday in Kobe, western Japan, a day after the discovery of the dismembered body of a six-year-old girl who had been missing for nearly a fortnight.
The police discovered the head and other body parts of Mirei Ikuta inside plastic bags in a bush roughly 100 metres east of her home in Nagata Ward.
The suspect, Yasuhiro Kimino, who lives near the area where the bags were found, was initially arrested on suspicion of abandoning a body.
The police found Kimino's medical registration card in one of the bags, as well as cigarette butts with DNA that matched his.
Pupils of an elementary school in Kobe, western Japan, are escorted by a police officer and school officials on their way home from school. Photo: Kyodo
According to the police, Mirei left school at around 2.45pm on September 11 and called on her grandmother, who lives nearby, leaving her school bag there. She was last seen walking alone from a park about 600 metres from her home at around 5.30pm that day.
Her mother reported the girl missing to the police that night, leading the police to mobilise 2,500 officers to comb the vicinity of Mirei's home.
Police admitted they had not searched the bush area where the body parts were found. A police officer on patrol found the bags after stopping there on Tuesday.
The spot is halfway between her school and home. Residents said the area was very quiet.
A total of six bags were found close together. The bags also contained a dress and sandals identical to those worn by Mirei.
