Vietnamese girl might have been kidnapped near home

March 27, 2017

MATSUDO- A nine-year-old Vietnamese girl who was found dead in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, on Sunday might have been kidnapped within a few minutes after she left her home in Matsudo in the eastern Japan prefecture for school on Friday morning, police sources have said.

Le Thi Nhat Linh, an elementary school third-grader, went unaccounted for after leaving her home around 8 a.m. Friday (11 p.m. Thursday GMT) to attend a term-ending ceremony at the school, which is some 10 minutes’ walk away.

A woman who volunteers in watching children on school routes was at a halfway point between Linh’s home and the elementary school on Friday morning, but she did not see the girl on that day, according to sources including Matsudo’s board of education.

The body of Linh, wearing no clothes, was found near a drainage ditch in Abiko around 6:45 a.m. Sunday. Her belongings, including the school bag, have not been found.

Local police are analyzing security camera footage, suspecting that the girl might have been kidnapped soon after she left her home, investigative sources said. The police are also gathering information of suspicious persons or vehicles.

The police will conduct an autopsy on her body on Monday. Jiji Press