A 53-year-old man who was arrested Monday on suspicion of abandoning the body of a female university student has made statements to police indicating he killed the woman, the Hokkaido police have said.
Police say Isamu Ono has admitted to the charge of abandoning the body, adding that the 22-year-old victim was strangled and died on around Oct. 4.
Ono is suspected of leaving the body of Yuina Segawa, a university student in Otaru, Hokkaido, inside his Sapporo residence at around 2 p.m., Saturday.
Segawa's family had reported her missing on Friday afternoon as they became unable to reach her after she left home on Oct. 3. Segawa had told them where she was headed, according to the police.
Ono subsequently surfaced during the police investigation.
He was initially apprehended outside his home on Saturday afternoon for carrying a knife with a blade over 8 centimeters long, a violation of the firearms control law, police said.
The woman's body was found later while investigators were searching his home on suspicion of unlawful confinement.