Arrested Man Sent Threatening E-Mail to Murdered Woman: Police

January 26, 2001

GIFU, Japan, Jan. 26 (Kyodo) — A man in Gifu Prefecture was arrested Friday on suspicion of sending a threatening e-mail message to a female acquaintance before she was found murdered at her house earlier this month, police said.

The police did not name the man, but said he is 39 and lives in the town of Kasamatsu in the central Japanese prefecture.

According to the police, he sent the threatening e-mail to the cellular phone of Chika Ito, 31.

Ito was found dead with stab wounds to the neck at her house in the town of Kaizu in Gifu Prefecture, and the estimated time of the murder was sometime on the night of Jan. 5 or the morning of Jan. 6, the police said.

Ito and the man had had arguments over their relationship, the police said.

Bloodstains matching Ito's blood type were found inside the man's car, and investigations are continuing, the police said.