Prosecutors received a case from police Friday on a 29-year-old man who committed suicide after allegedly luring and confining four girls in a Tokyo apartment.
Investigators allege Kotaro Yoshisato recruited the girls, all age 12, in Shibuya Ward on July 13, saying he needed them for part-time jobs to clean offices, and then confined them in a short-term lease apartment in Minato Ward.
On July 17, police found Yoshisato dead when they entered the apartment after one of the girls, who were handcuffed, escaped to ask for help from neighbors.
The police found Yoshisato under a plastic cover near briquette coals and a clay charcoal stove, and they later concluded he died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Yoshisato, from Saitama Prefecture, had suffered from serious allergies and reportedly told a friend before the incident that he wanted to die.
Police said Yoshisato repeatedly looked for girls in Shibuya to fix them up with men, posing as a recruiter for part-time jobs.