A 58-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a 16-year-old female high school student who was found dead in an apartment in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, apparently after a cough medicine overdose.
On Thursday, the Osaka Prefectural Police arrested Takanori Tachibana, whose current home address and work is unknown, over the death of the student in November. At that time, he had been living in the apartment.
An autopsy showed she died due to an overdose and found a fatal amount of cough medicine ingredients as well as a nonlethal amount of stimulant drugs inside her body.
Police had been searching for Tachibana, but he turned himself in on Thursday.
Tachibana is suspected of putting her in a car on a street in the city of Osaka on Nov. 11 and taking her to his apartment. He has denied the charges.
Tachibana called an ambulance on the morning of Nov. 12, saying the girl was unconscious and not breathing, police said. Paramedics found her lying on the bed and pronounced her dead. Tachibana was nowhere to be seen.
Security camera footage showed that the girl, who was Chinese, was barely conscious when she was taken into the car. Records were found on her smartphone of the two texting each other via social media.