3 More Boys Arrested over Robbery-Murder in Japan's Tochigi

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref., May 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police arrested three more 16-year-old boys in connection with a robbery-murder incident targeting an elderly woman in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, it was learned Saturday.

The number of those arrested rose to four in total. Investigators have not disclosed whether the suspects have admitted to the crime.

The three boys--a high school student and a self-proclaimed high school student from the city of Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, and a high school student from the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa--are suspected of murdering 69-year-old Eiko Tomiyama by stabbing her after breaking into and ransacking her house in the Tochigi town of Kaminokawa at around 9:25 a.m. on Thursday.

The self-proclaimed high school student, arrested Friday, had previously attended the same high school as a separate 16-year-old high school student from Sagamihara arrested over the robbery-murder case on Thursday, and is acquainted with other suspects.

The third and fourth boys were arrested Saturday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]