According to Japanese law enforcement, a 16-year-old girl admitted to killing 15-year-old classmate and friend, Aiwa Matsuo. The accused murderer cannot be named because she is a minor, but she admitted to gruesome details involving Matsuo's murder.
On Sunday, investigators entered the apartment building in Sasebo, Nagasaki prefecture to study the crime scene in which a 15-year-old was allegedly beaten repeatedly over the head, strangled, and dismembered by her friend and fellow classmate. The victim, Aiwa Matsuo, was believed to be murdered on Saturday around 8 p.m. Her head and left hand were chopped off.
Matsuo was found dead on a bed in the suspect's apartment. According to the police, the 16-year-old murdering suspect lives alone in Sasebo while her father and stepmother live elsewhere in the city. She told police on Sunday that she 'did it all by herself,' in regards to beating, strangling, and dismembering Matsuo in her apartment. She was arrested after her confession.
Matsuo and the suspect attended the same senior high school and the reason behind the crime is unknown. The suspect was described by her friends and acquaintances as 'very smart with emotional ups and downs,' in The Japan Times, and reporters discovered that her mother died last year. One of her former classmates noted she 'showed signs of being emotionally unstable and often started crying when she had an argument with someone.'
The last such incident of this nature in Japan occurred in 2004 when an elementary school girl killed her 11-year-old classmate, which is referred to as the 'Sasebo slashing.' A 12-year-old female student murdered a classmate by slitting her throat and arms with a utility knife in their elementary school. Investigators noted this incident was related to a falling out as a result of messages sent over the Internet.
"I feel so sad and frustrated. We have kept calling attention to the value of life, but the message has not been delivered," said senior high school's principal, in the Japan Times article. The names of the school and principal are not being disclosed at this time.
Authorities have yet to release any further information and the teenage suspect is currently being held in custody.
