16-Year-Old Boy Arrested over Robbery-Murder in Japan’s Tochigi

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref., May 15 (Jiji Press)–Police arrested a 16-year-old boy on Thursday for allegedly murdering a woman after breaking into a house in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan. Whether the suspect, a resident of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, also eastern Japan, admitted to the allegations of robbery-murder against him was not disclosed. The Tochigi prefectural police think that the case may involve a “tokuryu” anonymous and fluid criminal group as several other men joined the suspect in breaking into the house, people familiar with the investigation said. On Thursday morning, a group of men wearing balaclavas broke into the house through a window on the first floor and attacked the 69-year-old female resident, Eiko Tomiyama, according to the police. Her first son in his 40s and second son in his 30s, who rushed to the scene, were also attacked with crowbars. When police officers arrived at the scene, they found signs that the house had been ransacked. Several stab wounds were found on Tomiyama’s chest. On Thursday afternoon, the prefectural police detained the boy near the scene. The police are looking at several reports of sightings of suspicious vehicles around Tomiyama’s house since April as part of the investigation into the case. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]