2 Women Die after Found Bleeding at Saitama Care Facility

Saitama, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)–Two female residents of an elderly care facility in Tsurugashima in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, were confirmed dead Wednesday morning hours after they were found bleeding and unconscious. At around 4:55 a.m., an emergency call from the facility reported the two women lying injured. They were taken to hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Investigating the case as a possible murder, the Saitama prefectural police department apprehended Toya Kimura, 22, a former employee of the facility, on Wednesday morning. Kimura said that he committed the murders, according to the police. He was arrested on suspicion of murdering Toshiko Kobayashi, 89, at the facility at around 2 a.m. on the same day by stabbing her with what appeared to be a knife. The man was detained shortly before 9 a.m. the same day on a street about 250 meters from the facility. Security camera footage from the facility captured a suspicious person leaving the area, prompting the police to search for the individual. Kimura quit his job at the facility in July last year. According to the police, a facility employee on night patrol found the two victims shortly after 3:30 a.m. They lived in private rooms, Kobayashi on the fifth floor and the other victim, Akiko Uei, 89, on the fourth floor. Both were stabbed in the upper body. The facility, located in a residential area, is about 300 meters south of Wakaba Station on the Tobu Tojo Line. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]