An 18-year-old youth was arrested Sunday on suspicion of killing and robbing a woman in Tokyo's Kichijoji district last week with a Romanian accomplice, police said.
After turning himself in around 11 p.m. Saturday night, the youth, who is Japanese and has no fixed address, admitted to murdering Arisa Yamada, 22, early Thursday morning and stealing her bag and purse. He was quoted as telling investigators: "I stabbed her. I wanted money."
The youth told investigators that he disposed of two kitchen knives believed to be the murder weapons at a vacant lot while he was on the run. Police have also confiscated what appears to be the victim's purse and notebook at the home of a friend the youth was staying with in Hino, western Tokyo.
The suspect, who had run away from home prior to Yamada's murder, told police that he fled to a nearby station after stabbing her, got on a train and traveled to Hino Station early Thursday. He had been holed up at his friend's residence since then.
The other suspect, a 17-year-old Romanian national, was arrested on the day of the incident and has also admitted to killing Yamada, according to the police. Their names have been withheld because both are minors.