An unemployed 35-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his 17-year-old girlfriend to death at his home in Hachioji, Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday.
Yoshio Nakata turned himself in at a police station in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday, saying he had "killed a woman."
Nakata's girlfriend, Haruka Sakurai, a high school student living in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, was found dead Wednesday night by police officers who rushed to Nakata's house after receiving a call from a visitor who saw blood coming out from under the front door.
Police found Sakurai's body inside lying in a pool of blood. She had been stabbed several times in the chest and back.
Nakata's whereabouts was unknown until he turned himself in. He told police that he had no money and thought he could not continue to date Sakurai. "I was going to kill myself after killing her," police quoted Nakata as saying.
Police found a bloodstained kitchen knife, apparently the murder weapon, in the kitchen.
Nakata's house is located about 800 meters southeast of Naganuma Station on the Keio Line.
"She was such a lively and friendly girl," said a man living in Sakurai's neighborhood. "I can't believe what happened."