Possible Handler Arrested in Tochigi Robbery-Murder Case

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref., May 17 (Jiji Press)–Japanese police on Sunday arrested a man in his 20s in connection with a robbery-murder incident targeting an elderly woman in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, believing that he was the handler who gave instructions to the perpetrators. The move came after four 16-year-old boys were arrested as suspected perpetrators. The Tochigi prefectural police department arrested the first boy on Thursday, the day of the crime, the second on Friday and the third and fourth on Saturday. The possible handler was arrested on suspicion of robbery-murder after he was found at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Investigators believe the four boys were recruited by a “tokuryu” anonymous and fluid criminal group and participated in the attack. The four, all from Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, are suspected of murdering 69-year-old Eiko Tomiyama by stabbing her after breaking into and ransacking her house in the Tochigi town of Kaminokawa at around 9:25 a.m. on Thursday. According to the prefectural police, a knife and a crowbar were seized from the crime scene. At least 20 stab wounds were found on Tomiyama’s body, with some deep enough to reach her organs. The second arrested among the four boys attended the same high school as the first and was acquainted with the third. Some of the boys did not know each other, and the prefectural police are investigating their relationships. The police referred the first arrested boy to prosecutors on Saturday and the second and third on Sunday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]