Teenager arrested after classmate stabbed
Tokyo police arrested a 16-year-old high school student today on suspicion of stabbing his female classmate nearly 50 times, leaving her dead on her apartment floor, news reports said.
The suspect had known Yua Koyama, 15, since primary school and is accused of killing her on Thursday evening, Kyodo News agency reported.
The 16-year-old suspect’s name is being withheld because he’s a minor.
Koyama’s body was found early Friday with wounds to her hands, neck and back in Machida in western Tokyo, police said.
She had been alone in the apartment before the killing, and no weapon was found at the crime scene, news reports said.
Investigators say the boy killed the girl with a kitchen knife found in her apartment, and threw it away on a road when fleeing, Kyodo said.
The girl’s body was found by her mother after she came home from work early Friday morning, the agency said.
The victim told friends last week that a bag containing a key to her apartment, where she lived with her mother, had been stolen at school. She said she was worried someone might break into her home, Kyodo and national broadcaster NHK reported.
Although violent crimes are still rare in Japan, there is a growing concern over increased crime among teenagers.
