3rd man wanted over nurse's death found dead in Niigata

Jun 20, 2018 | News On Japan

Jun 20, 2018 (Japan Today) - A 39-year-old man wanted by police in connection with the death of a nurse has been found dead in Niigata City, having apparently committed suicide, police said Tuesday.

The body of Toyofumi Akutagawa, who is suspected of illegally confining 29-year-old Mayuko Uchiyama, was found dead last Friday in a hotel in Niigata, some 400 kilometers away from where she was abducted late last month, they said. Akutagawa was a native of nearby Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture.

Uchiyama's body was found buried in a mountainous area in Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 9. A security camera captured two men forcing their way into her car outside a fitness gym she had been to, and driving off on May 26 in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka, while another vehicle tailed them.

Two unemployed men -- Mitsuru Suzuki, 42, and Motoki Ito, 28 -- were arrested earlier on suspicion of illegally confining Uchiyama, and they have told investigators they were promised payment and given instructions about the abduction by another man. The three men met at JR Hamamatsu Station on May 26 to plan the abduction.

The police had been looking for Akutagawa, suspecting he was behind the attack.

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