The body of a 16-year-old girl has been discovered with her hands bound with duct tape in an empty house in Ishikawa Prefecture and a man believed to be linked to her death apparently committed suicide, police said Saturday.
The body, discovered Friday night, was identified as that of Misa Ikeshita, a senior high school student in the town of Noto, who went missing earlier that day, police said, adding a 21-year-old college student may have killed himself in a neighboring town.
Ikeshita’s body with multiple stab wounds was found on the first floor of the empty house bleeding from the head and the mouth covered with duct tape.
Police believe she was abducted on the way home from school as her belongings including a mobile phone and gym clothes were scattered around a bus stop when her mother arrived there.
Ikeshita sent a text message to her mother at around 6:30 p.m. asking to pick her up. The bus stop is located about 5 kilometers way from the empty house.
The college student from Nagano Prefecture was hit by a car around 7:40 p.m. Friday as he ran in front of the vehicle on an expressway in neighboring Anamizu town, apparently hoping to be killed, and died at a hospital Saturday morning, according to police.
Police believe there was no connection between the college student and the victim prior to the incident as the girl’s mobile phone shows no communication records with the man, and the girl never contacted authorities about any possible stalking.
Police found a car, apparently driven by the man, parked near the site of the accident and discovered a knife suspected to have been used to stab the girl, they said.
Police discovered Ikeshita’s body when they visited the address of the college student’s relative who was registered as the owner of the vehicle.
He had stayed in the empty house for several days, police added.
“We are very saddened (by the loss). It is unforgivable and I don’t have words, also as a parent,” said Naoji Okubo, principal of the high school the victim attended, adding Ikeshita had good grades and was a member of the school’s brass band.
Source: Japan Today Image: ANN
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