A 23-year-old Japanese man was taken into custody Monday after a teenage girl who had been held captive in his apartment for two years managed to escape from her captivity and called her mother, who then notified police.
The girl, who was kidnapped in May 2014, had been abducted from her Saitama home by the man, Kabu Terauchi, by pretending to be a lawyer working on her parents' divorce. The news was a high profile case at the time, quickly gaining national attention. However with no progress made, it soon died out.
Fast forward to March 2016, when authorities say the girl managed to escape after her captor forgot to lock his apartment in downtown Tokyo on Sunday when he went out to go shopping in Akihabara, a district renowned for selling merchandise uniquely suited towards otaku. After leaving the house, she ventured out into the cold wearing nothing but a sweat suit and sandals to call her mother about the ordeal, who then contacted police, prompting them to raid Teruachi's apartment.
What followed after the raid is unclear, however. All that is known is that the case was put to rest early Monday morning when investigators captured Terauchi near a forest more than 60 miles west of Tokyo. He had attempted to commit suicide at some point during the ordeal and was bleeding from the neck due to a self-inflicted injury upon his arrest.
Police plan to formally arrest him for kidnapping.
Based on testimony from the now 15-year-old girl, the one thing more bizarre than the abduction, is the two years she spent in captivity afterward. Terauchi attended college in Chiba like usual, graduating earlier this month and even receiving a job offer. She even moved from his old apartment near her university to a new one in Tokyo last month.
During this time, the girl, whose name is being withheld due to her status as a minor, was always locked up and kept under strict surveillance, but was never bound, tied or chained-up. There were even times when she was allowed to accompany Terauchi outside, but even then she was closely watched.
A motive for the kidnapping is unclear and there has been no mention of what Terauchi did with the girl during her captivity, like any incidents of sexual abuse or misconduct.
