YOKOHAMA – A key suspect in last week’s robbery-murder case in Tochigi Prefecture apparently attempted to flee to South Korea after the incident, investigative sources said Thursday.
The suspect, Kaito Takemae, 28, and his 25-year-old wife, Miyu, allegedly instructed four 16-year-old boys to carry out the robbery and murder at a house in the Tochigi town of Kaminokawa.
Takemae was taken into police custody shortly before his planned flight to Seoul at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in the early hours of Sunday, the sources said.
Police will work to identify why Takemae attempted to travel to South Korea. His wife, also arrested Sunday, was found at a hotel in Kanagawa Prefecture with their 7-month-old daughter earlier in the day.
On Thursday, the Tochigi Prefectural Police raided the apartment of the couple in Yokohama.
Investigators believe that a loosely organized tokuryū anonymous crime group is involved in the case, suspecting that Takemae and his wife carried out their role under a higher-ranking member.
The couple and the four high school students have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kill Eiko Tomiyama, a 69-year-old resident of the house, during a robbery on May 14. Two sons of Tomiyama were also attacked.
According to the sources, one of the four teenagers is believed to have played a central role among them, contacting Takemae several times and recruiting the other three.
On the day of the incident, the boys allegedly traveled to the target location in a luxury car provided to them and met the couple at a roadside rest area where they were handed crowbars and other weapons, the sources said.
During the break-in, three allegedly committed the robbery while receiving instructions from Takemae in real time via a smartphone app. The remaining one acted as a lookout, they said.
After the incident, the couple left Tochigi by car, investigators said. However, police learned that Takemae was alone at Haneda Airport late on Saturday. Investigators located him at the departure gate of Terminal 3 before dawn on Sunday, less than an hour before boarding started for the Seoul-bound flight.
Some of the boys told investigators that Takemae threatened to kill their families and friends if they failed to take part in the crime. Some of them have expressed feelings of regret and remorse.
Takemae has denied the allegations against him, saying that the case “has nothing to do with us,” according to the sources.
On the premises of Tomiyama’s house, a pet dog was found dead, apparently killed by the teenagers for fear that it would bark.
