Police said Tuesday two women found strangled in late December in an Aichi Prefecture apartment that had been set on fire were confirmed to be sisters of Brazilian nationality.
One of the women had earlier been identified as Kimberly Akemy Amarilha Maruyama, 27, a part-time worker at a leisure facility, and the police found through DNA testing that the other woman was her sister, Michelle, a 29-year-old factory worker.
The two sisters lived together at the apartment run by the Aichi Prefectural Government in the city of Handa.
The police have arrested a Peruvian man for allegedly driving without a license last Wednesday, the day of the fire, a car used by the younger sister. He was arrested on suspicion of violating the traffic law, but police suspect the man — an acquaintance of both women — may know something about the slayings.
The apartment is believed to have been set ablaze after the two women were killed. An almost empty 5-liter gasoline can was found in the kitchen and the door of the apartment was not locked when the fire started, the police said.