Another two 16-year-olds were arrested Saturday on suspicion of robbery and murder in Tochigi Prefecture, after two of the same age were taken into custody earlier in the week over the case.
Police believe the four were recruited online for the crime and that the attack was orchestrated, according to investigative sources.
The third and fourth teens, residents of Sagamihara and Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo, respectively, were arrested in connection with the break-in at a home on Thursday morning, in which Eiko Tomiyama, 69, was fatally stabbed and her two sons were injured.
Police believe the four teens arrived at the scene in a vehicle that one of them drove, they said. The car was seized by police after it was located at a parking lot near the home of one of the four, they said.
The teens arrested Thursday and Friday, claim to be students at the same high school in Sagamihara, according to the sources. One of those arrested Saturday knew the one arrested Friday.
The four teens are suspected of having colluded with another individual to break into Tomiyama’s home to steal money and valuables and then stabbed the victim to death between around 9:25 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Thursday, police said, adding they also allegedly injured Tomiyama’s sons.
Earlier in the month, the police arrested the 41-year-old driver of a vehicle with a stolen license plate that was parked near Tomiyama’s home. It is believed that the same car was used in an attempted robbery in Tokyo in March, the sources said.
© KYODO
