A man arrested on suspicion of killing and dismembering a 6-year-old girl and then dumping her body parts in plastic bags in Kobe has admitted to committing the murder, according to investigative sources.
Yasuhiro Kimino, 47, who is unemployed, told investigators he strangled Mirei Ikuta after inviting her to his home, the sources alleged on Wednesday. He said he did not intend to molest her.
Details of the murder have started to become more clear after Kimino's lawyers said Tuesday he had confessed. Until then, he had maintained silence about the allegations.
Kimino allegedly said he had never met the girl before the day of the murder, which was Sept. 11.
The first-grade student at a local elementary school lived in the same neighborhood as Kimino.
Lawyers quoted him as saying the girl "followed me to my home when I told her on the street that she is cute and asked her to sit as a model for a drawing."
Kimino was drunk at the time, they said.
He was arrested on Sept. 24 for allegedly abandoning the girl's dismembered body in a wooded area near his home. He was served with a fresh arrest warrant on Oct. 14 on suspicion of murder.