He kept it a secret for 7 years.
Koreaboo
On May 15, a 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of stealing a woman’s smartphone as she passed him on the street. Now, a month later, he has been arrested for the murder of a missing woman.
Saitama Prefectural Police arrested the suspect, Saito Jun, on June 16 after they searched his residence and discovered two human skulls, as well as neck and leg bones inside a glass display case. A DNA test confirmed that the bones and one of the skulls belong to Miyamoto Kaho, a 21-year-old woman who went missing seven years ago.
Miyamoto was last seen on January 18, 2018, at JR Omiya Station in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture. According to Japanese media reports, the suspect and the victim became acquainted through social media, and they met fourteen days before Miyamoto vanished, on January 4, 2018 at Omiya Station. After they went back to his home, Saito asked Miyamoto to write a suicide note and took her SIM card out of her phone to hide her location. He also told her to lie to her family in a letter by telling them she had taken a new part-time job: a live-in position. Even so, her family filed a missing persons report.
While in police custody, Saito confessed to killing the victim by strangling her at his home. He also suggested that the murder was consensual.
I’ve had a murderous desire since I was a child. I wanted to kill someone. I’m sure I did it with her consent. There was no other reason.
— Saito Jun
According to police, Saito dismembered Miyamoto’s body with the saws, knives, and other tools they discovered at his home. He then kept some of Miyamoto’s bones, including her skull, and dumped the rest in the garbage outside his apartment building. According to Saito, he bought the other skull on the internet.
Saito’s neighbors and acquaintances, who described him as kind and polite, expressed their shock after the news broke. His father apologized, telling reporters that he is saddened and confused by his son’s brutal crime. The victim’s family also released a statement:
We can’t believe it, and we don’t want to believe it. She was a kind, earnest girl who was considerate of the feelings of those around her. For now, our family would like to quietly mourn our daughter.
— Statement from Miyamoto’s family
May she rest in peace.
