67-year-old man arrested over murder of Kumamoto University researcher
Japan Today -- Sep 14
Police in Kumamoto City on Sunday arrested a 67-year-old man over the murder of a 35-year old researcher at Kumamoto University whose body was found in a roadside gutter in Kumamoto City on Sept 7.

Police said Kazuhiro Kumagai has initially been charged with abandoning a corpse after he admitted to leaving the body of Chisato Narahara in the gutter, Fuji TV reported. They did not say if Kumagai admitted killing Narahara.

Narahara, who was an AIDS researcher at the university in Chuo Ward, was last seen at her workplace at 5 p.m. on Sept 6. Her body, with no means of identification on it, was found at 8:30 a.m. the next day by a passerby. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation.

After the police released a composite sketch of the woman on Sept, Narahara’s mother contacted them and said the image resembled her daughter.

The victim’s rucksack containing her wallet and laptop, but not her cell phone, was found about 500 meters away from the body on Sept 9.

「男は女性の連絡先を知っていた」と話しているということです。  熊本市の無職・熊谷和洋容疑者(67)は6日、熊本市中央区の道路脇の溝に熊本大学の研究員・楢原知里さん(35)の遺体を遺棄した疑いが持たれています。熊谷容疑者は楢原さんが住んでいるマンションで以前、清掃員をしていて面識があり、「楢原さんの連絡先も知っている」と話しているということです。熊谷容疑者は事件後、ニュースなどを見て逃走していましたが、以前、住んでいた熊本県北部で12日午後に警察の任意同行に応じたということです。熊谷容疑者による単独犯行とみられ、楢原さんは首を絞められて殺害されていることから、警察は殺人の疑いでも調べています。
News sources: Japan Today, ANNnewsCH