A 19-year-old university student was stabbed to death by a young man as she was heading home Sunday night from her university, police said.
The man stabbed Mayumi Shimomura, a sophomore at Chubu University, in the chest and other parts of her body. The attack occurred on a quiet residential street in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, at around 8:15 p.m., police reported Monday.
Shimomura died shortly afterward. The man, reported to be around 20 years old, fled on a bicycle.
A 33-year-old man who had been jogging nearby told police he heard the sound of two bicycles crashing and then saw the man holding Shimomura down on the ground.
When the witness tried to help her, the man threatened him with a knife. The attacker then chased Shimomura for about 10 meters, grabbed her from behind and stabbed her. The assailant reportedly remained completely silent.
Shimomura was on her way home from JR Okazaki Station on a bicycle after taking part in extracurricular activities at the university in Kasugai, police said.
They are trying to determine if the killer knew her.