Zoo Worker Served with Fresh Arrest Warrant for Killing Wife

Sapporo, May 22 (Jiji Press)–Police on Friday served a fresh arrest warrant on a worker at a zoo in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido on suspicion of murdering his wife. The Hokkaido police department suspects that Tatsuya Suzuki, 33, killed the wife, Yui, also 33, at their home between around 6:30 p.m. and 8:35 p.m. on March 31. He has admitted the allegation, saying, “I strangled her with a rope.” Suzuki was arrested late last month for allegedly abandoning the body of Yui by burning it in an incinerator at Asahiyama Zoo, a popular tourist destination in the city of Asahikawa, and was indicted later. He is an employee of the city, which runs the zoo. Police seized several ropes from the zoo that may have been used in the crime. Suzuki has told police that he had dissatisfaction with demands from his wife. The police department will investigate details, including his motive and circumstances surrounding the crime. Investigators discovered Yui’s bones from the incinerator, which is used to dispose of animals that died at the zoo. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]