2 arrested over alleged murder of high school girl in Japan’s Hokkaido

TOKYO: Two women were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing a 17-year-old high school girl whose body was found in May in Hokkaido, northern Japan.

Riko Uchida, 21, and a 19-year-old woman, both from the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, are suspected of pushing Runa Murayama, a high school student from the city of Rumoi, off a suspension bridge into a river in a mountainous area of Asahikawa on April 19, resulting in her death, police said.

Police said that after Murayama’s family reported her disappearance on April 22, police conducted searches and found her body in the downstream of the river in late May.

According to investigators, the incident occurred after the victim posted a photo of Uchida on social media without her permission.

The two suspects, who have been arrested on suspicion of non-consensual sexual misconduct against the girl, are believed to have threatened her, locked her up in a car and taken her to the bridge, police added.

Police did not disclose the relationship among the three or whether the suspects have admitted to the allegation.

-Xinhua