A man who died in a car crash in Yamaguchi Prefecture in late 2009 is suspected of having killed a female university student found dismembered on a mountain two days earlier after going missing in neighboring Shimane Prefecture, investigative sources have revealed.
The belief that the man, a company employee in his 30s, may have murdered Miyako Hiraoka, a first-year student at a public university in Shimane is partially based on a digital photo found on a camera that apparently captured images of the victim after her disappearance, the sources said Saturday.
Police combed through the man's belongings after suspicions grew this year that he was involved in the woman's death, the sources said. The photo images were eventually found at a location related to him.