Yoshinobu Kumazawa, suspected of abandoning a woman's body, is seen in police custody in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, on Dec. 11, 2018. (Mainichi/Hiroshi Maruyama)

TOKYO -- A 27-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of abandoning a body in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima earlier this month. Police believe that the body is that of a 20-year-old woman who went missing on Nov. 28.

Yoshinobu Kumazawa, of no fixed address, allegedly transported the body by a car from an apartment in Tokyo's Nerima Ward to the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, sometime between Dec. 3 and 9.

According to individuals close to the investigation, contact was lost with technical school student Natsuki Taniguchi after she returned to the apartment on the night of Nov. 28. They also said that 59,000 yen, almost the entire balance, had been withdrawn from Taniguchi's account on Nov. 29.

The individuals said that security camera footage from Taniguchi's apartment building showed Kumazawa entering and leaving. In the predawn hours of Dec. 3, the man was captured on security footage as he carried out a futon mattress. He is suspected to have wrapped the body in the futon.

In addition, there was a note found in Taniguchi's room thought to have been written by Kumazawa, and implying he was involved in killing her and taking money from her account. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is investigating, with an eye to building a murder-robbery case over Taniguchi's death.

According to the MPD, the suspect has admitted to abandoning the body, and has also admitted to killing Taniguchi. The police believe that Kumazawa and Taniguchi got to know each other at a restaurant where she worked part time.

(Japanese original by Shota Harumashi, Yoshitaka Yamamoto and Hironori Tsuchie, City News Department)