Man arrested for 2004 murder of teenage girl in Japan

April 13, 2018

Yamaguchi- A 35-year-old man was arrested on Friday for allegedly stabbing a 17-year-old girl to death in 2004 in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan.

Fingerprints and DNA collected from the crime scene 13 and a half years ago matched those of the suspect, Manabu Kashima, a company employee from Ube in neighboring Yamaguchi Prefecture, who was investigated by police over a separate assault case, investigative sources said.

Kashima has admitted the charges, according to the Hiroshima prefectural police department.

The police asked Kashima to submit voluntarily to questioning in the city of Yamaguchi on Friday morning, arrested him there and transferred him to Hatsukaichi for a full investigation.

The murder occurred on the afternoon of Oct. 5, 2004. The victim, Satomi Kitaguchi, then a second-year high school student, was stabbed nearly 10 times in the chest and the stomach in an annex building of her home.

Her grandmother suffered serious injuries from stabbing. Jiji Press