Communicating via the Internet allowed the 16-year-old girl arrested Sunday after confessing to the slaying of a former classmate in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, to present herself in a positive light and mask her violent side, experts speculated.
The suspect is currently being held on an initial charge of abandoning a corpse. Police found the body on a mountain on July 13 based on the girl's confession the previous day.
While the messages the suspect sent to friends via the instant messaging app Line included words of appreciation, there were none of remorse for having taken part in a heinous crime.