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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police confirmed Thursday the arrest of an American on suspicion of dismembering and abandoning the body of a woman in western Japan.
Hyogo prefectural police said Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar was arrested Feb. 22 on suspicion of confining the woman, who had been missing for six days.
Police said they added allegations Wednesday of dismembering and abandoning the body. They are also investigating if the suspect killed the woman.
Police would not release the suspect's hometown, saying they are still verifying it. Japanese media reports say he is from Long Island, NY.
Police said they found the severed head of the woman, a 27-year-old office worker from Sanda City, in the suspect's lodging in Osaka last week. They found other body parts on Sunday in the mountains of Osaka and Kyoto after the suspect identified where he abandoned them, police said. An examination of those parts is still underway.
Japanese media reports say the suspect met the woman on an internet dating site and exchanged messages using Instagram. The woman went missing on Feb. 16 after messaging her friend that she was going to meet someone named "Jay."
Investigators believe Bayraktar confined the woman in his lodging in the Higashinari district in Osaka between Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, during which he dismembered the victim and took the head to another room he rented in nearby Nishinari and the remaining parts to the mountains.
Security camera video from the first building showed him entering with a woman, but did not show the woman leaving. It showed the suspect going in and out with a suitcase, police said.
Media reports say Bayraktar entered Japan in January on a tourist visa.
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This story has been corrected to fix name order to Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar.
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