Shizuoka cops: Suspect in corpse-dismemberment case likely behind other killing

SHIZUOKA (TR) – Shizuoka Prefectural Police have arrested a 33-year-old man in the killing of a male acquaintance whose dismembered body was found three months ago at a lake in Hamamatsu City. The same man is suspected in similar case, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Sept. 22).

According to police, Tatsuya Kawasaki is believed to have stabbed Yuto Demachi, a 32-year-old factory worker from Bibai City, Hokkaido Prefecture, to death inside an apartment in Iwata City sometime around July 5.

The suspect then allegedly dismembered Demachi’s body and scattered the remains at a shore of Okuhamana Lake at some point over the next several days.

Kawasaki, who has been charged with murder and abandoning a corpse, admits to the allegations.

On July 8, police were alerted to the lake after the discovery of a various body parts, including two legs, a head and torso. A DNA analysis of the remains proved to be a match for Demachi.

Security camera footage taken in Hamamatsu and Iwata showed Demachi in the presence of Kawasaki. A search of the apartment in Iwata, which Kawasaki had rented, revealed blood that has been confirmed to belong to Demachi.

Kawasaki is also under investigation in the death of 63-year-old Atsushi Sudo. A number of his bones were found along a different shore of the same lake last month. He had gone missing in January of this year. In July, Kawasaki withdrew money from an account belonging to Sudo, police said.