CHIBA (Kyodo) A 21-year-old man arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of a 5-year-old girl in September in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, has indicated that he submerged the girl in bathwater in his condominium, investigative sources said Sunday.
Police are searching for further evidence to verify his remarks by collecting hairs from the bathroom and conducting DNA tests, the sources said.
Ryo Katsuki, an unemployed man from Togane, was arrested Dec. 6 on suspicion of dumping the body of Yukimaro Narita, a nursery school student from the city, by the side of a road near a park in Togane, about 100 meters from his condominium.
Based on the results of an autopsy, the Togane police have suspected that the girl died from suffocation or drowning, the sources said.
After his arrest, Katsuki told the police, "I met the girl outside several times (on the day her body was found) and she followed me, although I told her to go home," according to the sources.
Katsuki was also quoted as saying to the police investigators, "When I was with the girl at my home, she went limp."