Police arrested a female Nagoya University student Tuesday on suspicion of killing an elderly woman who was found dead earlier in the day in the suspect's apartment.

They said the 19-year-old student admitted to murdering Tomoko Mori, 77, by hitting her head with an ax and strangling her with a scarf in the Nagoya apartment last month.

According to the police, the student said she had "wanted to kill someone since childhood," and that it could have been "anybody."

The two had apparently become acquainted when the victim tried to persuade the student to join a religious group.

The suspect, whose name is being withheld because she is minor, allegedly told the police she had felt annoyed at being asked to join the group.

The police started their investigation into the case when Mori's husband consulted them in December after she went missing.

They found the ax believed to have been used in the killing in the student's apartment.