SAITAMA -- The Saitama Prefectural Police force arrested four more youths in the early hours of Aug. 26 on suspicion of murdering a 16-year-old boy who was found partly buried by a river in the city of Higashimatsuyama.
The dead boy has been identified as Tsubasa Inoue, of the Saitama Prefecture town of Yoshimi. The newly arrested teens are a 17-year-old boy, 14-year-old and 15-year-old junior high school students all living in Higashimatsuyama, and a 15-year-old boy living in the city of Kawagoe. The 15-year-old student is denying the allegation, saying he was at the scene but not involved in the killing, but the other three have reportedly admitted to the allegations.
According to an investigative source, another 16-year-old boy -- arrested on Aug. 25 on suspicion of killing Inoue -- has admitted to investigators that he "assaulted the victim and then buried his body by the river." Police suspect Inoue may have been buried in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Police allege that Inoue's killing occurred on around Aug. 22. That day the Toki River, by which Inoue's body was found, had risen due to a typhoon, which temporarily flooded the riverbed. Police believe that before the water rose Inoue's body had been buried, and afterwards as the water returned to its normal level some of the mud covering him washed away, partially exposing the corpse.
From a video taken by a youth at the scene of the violence inflicted on Inoue, a boy, thought to be the one arrested on Aug. 25, appears to grab Inoue's head and force it into the water. Also included in the video was someone shouting, "Stop laughing." From this video and other evidence, investigators believe that Inoue drowned due to swallowing massive amounts of water.
According to an investigative source, the boy arrested on Aug. 25 has also said, "We threw Inoue's clothes away into the river." Inoue's body was found without any clothing, and no clothes were found nearby. Prefectural police believe it is highly likely that Inoue's clothes were washed down the river.
Police had received information that there were more people at the site of Inoue's killing than just the 16-year-old boy who was first arrested and the boy who took the video, helping lead to the new arrests.
The 16-year-old boy has also told investigators that Inoue "lied and ignored texts and phone calls, so we killed him."
According to a source who knew both Inoue and the first suspect, the two started hanging out together this month. The boy was a member of a gang called "Puzzle" that is based in Higashimatsuyama. The source says the gang members wore red and would ride around on motorcycles.
Around the same time Inoue started hanging out with the first suspect and other gang members, the suspect reportedly was complaining that he couldn't get in contact with Inoue. The victim appeared to have been hit, kicked and burned with cigarettes by multiple members of the gang for fun.
According to neighbors of the 16-year-old suspect, he had attended high school for a time. A 36-year-old woman living nearby said, "I saw him riding on a bicycle with a girl and he looked like he was having fun, but there was a time when he seemed like he was troubled by something. He seemed like a boy going through a rebellious adolescent stage."
After graduating from junior high school Inoue enrolled in a high school part-time program in Konosu, Saitama Prefecture, but he later quit. For a while he worked at a convenience store near his home. Recently he had often been spending nights away from home.
The dead boy has been identified as Tsubasa Inoue, of the Saitama Prefecture town of Yoshimi. The newly arrested teens are a 17-year-old boy, 14-year-old and 15-year-old junior high school students all living in Higashimatsuyama, and a 15-year-old boy living in the city of Kawagoe. The 15-year-old student is denying the allegation, saying he was at the scene but not involved in the killing, but the other three have reportedly admitted to the allegations.
According to an investigative source, another 16-year-old boy -- arrested on Aug. 25 on suspicion of killing Inoue -- has admitted to investigators that he "assaulted the victim and then buried his body by the river." Police suspect Inoue may have been buried in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Police allege that Inoue's killing occurred on around Aug. 22. That day the Toki River, by which Inoue's body was found, had risen due to a typhoon, which temporarily flooded the riverbed. Police believe that before the water rose Inoue's body had been buried, and afterwards as the water returned to its normal level some of the mud covering him washed away, partially exposing the corpse.
From a video taken by a youth at the scene of the violence inflicted on Inoue, a boy, thought to be the one arrested on Aug. 25, appears to grab Inoue's head and force it into the water. Also included in the video was someone shouting, "Stop laughing." From this video and other evidence, investigators believe that Inoue drowned due to swallowing massive amounts of water.
According to an investigative source, the boy arrested on Aug. 25 has also said, "We threw Inoue's clothes away into the river." Inoue's body was found without any clothing, and no clothes were found nearby. Prefectural police believe it is highly likely that Inoue's clothes were washed down the river.
Police had received information that there were more people at the site of Inoue's killing than just the 16-year-old boy who was first arrested and the boy who took the video, helping lead to the new arrests.
The 16-year-old boy has also told investigators that Inoue "lied and ignored texts and phone calls, so we killed him."
According to a source who knew both Inoue and the first suspect, the two started hanging out together this month. The boy was a member of a gang called "Puzzle" that is based in Higashimatsuyama. The source says the gang members wore red and would ride around on motorcycles.
Around the same time Inoue started hanging out with the first suspect and other gang members, the suspect reportedly was complaining that he couldn't get in contact with Inoue. The victim appeared to have been hit, kicked and burned with cigarettes by multiple members of the gang for fun.
According to neighbors of the 16-year-old suspect, he had attended high school for a time. A 36-year-old woman living nearby said, "I saw him riding on a bicycle with a girl and he looked like he was having fun, but there was a time when he seemed like he was troubled by something. He seemed like a boy going through a rebellious adolescent stage."
After graduating from junior high school Inoue enrolled in a high school part-time program in Konosu, Saitama Prefecture, but he later quit. For a while he worked at a convenience store near his home. Recently he had often been spending nights away from home.
