Tokyo IT Firm Chief Served Fresh Arrest Warrant for Killing Exec

Tokyo, June 17 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department served a fresh arrest warrant on the president of an information technology firm Wednesday on suspicion of killing an executive of the company. Katsuya Mizuguchi, 49, is alleged to have murdered Takeshi Kamiyama, 54, at the firm’s office in the Akasaka district in the Japanese capital’s Minato Ward around Sept. 28, 2025. Only the trunk of the victim was discovered in a bag in a mountain in the city of Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on May 29. Mizuguchi has been arrested and indicted for allegedly abandoning the body of Kamiyama. The MPD also arrested Hayato Suzuki, a 29-year-old unemployed man from Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, on Wednesday for allegedly helping Mizuguchi damage and dump the victim’s body. An issue related to executive compensation is believed to be behind the murder. Mizuguchi has remained silent during questioning while Suzuki has admitted to the allegations against him, according to investigative sources. The two suspects came to know each other as Mizuguchi posted a murder request on social media around June last year and Suzuki responded to it. Through highly confidential communication app Signal, Mizuguchi informed Suzuki of Kamiyama’s home address and asked him to kill the executive. The president sent Suzuki electronic money for preparations. Late last September, however, Mizuguchi sent Suzuki a photo of the victim’s body with messages that he killed the victim himself but could not carry it as it was too heavy. Suzuki advised Mizuguchi to cut it into pieces using a chainsaw and transport the pieces by rental car. Mizuguchi had purchased kitchen and chef’s knives at a large retail store in Tokyo before the suspected murder. He apparently bought a chainsaw and an electric handsaw after allegedly killing Kamiyama, based on the advice from Suzuki. Suzuki received a total of 5.4 million yen in digital payments in 103 transactions from Mizuguchi, including penalty fees. Suzuki told police during voluntary questioning before his arrest, “I have swindled people out of money by pretending to be a handy man on social media.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]