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Japan: serial killer questioned after nine bodies were found in apartment
Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, has been handed over to prosecutors for questioning as more details of the gruesome murders were revealed
Takahiro Shiraishi, the man reportedly responsible for the killing of nine people and dismembering of bodies, concealing his face (Photo: News AU)
A Japanese man police say confessed to killing and dismembering nine bodies found in his apartment, was handed over to prosecutors for questioning on Wednesday as more details emerged.
This part of the process occurs before formal indictment. So far, Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, only faces a possible charge of abandoning bodies, but police are expected to also seek murder and charges of dismemberment.
Shiraishi was arrested on Tuesday after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases, covered with cat litter and hidden in his apartment in Zama, a city southwest of the capital.
According to police, Shiraishi confessed that he had attempted to hide the evidence.
Police found the bodies while searching for a 23-year-old woman, who had disappeared after exchanging Twitter messages with Shiraishi.
They are currently working to identify the victims, fearing that she might be among them.
The case captured attention in a country known for public safety, topping news with reports that showed the building where the suspect lived in a small studio apartment.
On Wednesday, media reports quoted investigative sources as saying Shiraishi started killing as soon as he moved into his apartment in late August. His first victim was a woman who he began speaking with via Twitter, offering to assist her suicide wish, then killed her boyfriend to silence him, according to media reports, including NHK public television.
This aerial photo shows the apartment, center, where police found dismembered bodies in coolers in Zama city, southwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, 31 October 2017 (Photo: Kyodo News/AP)
Reports also claimed that the two were recorded by security cameras walking together outside of train stations near her apartment and the suspect's apartment.
Shiraishi also used similar tactics to kill seven other women.
A police official, who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday said that a toolbox and saw found in Shiraishi's apartment may have been used to dismember the bodies. Online descriptions of the apartment building indicate it had a plastic-sealed "unit bath" and he allegedly dismembered the bodies there.
He told police his motives were money and sexual abuse, Japanese media reported Wednesday, but police refused to confirm the reports to AP.
