OSAKA (Kyodo) A 17-year-old high school student was arrested Saturday on suspicion of killing and abandoning the body of a 15-year-old from a different school who was found dead early Friday in a river in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture.
The suspect, whose identity is being withheld because he is a minor, has admitted to the allegations, police said. The youth said he killed the other boy after growing close to the victim's girlfriend, who was coming to him for advice on their apparently sour relationship, because he thought that was only way he could help her.
The senior, who lives in Tondabayashi, told the police that he couldn't forgive the boy for troubling the girl, they said.
The 15-year-old victim was identified as Koki Okubo, a student at Chiyoda High School, a private school in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture. The suspect allegedly killed Okubo by battering him around the head and face with a wooden hammer and a bat near the river, leaving his body there between Thursday evening and early Friday.
An autopsy showed Okubo died of a brain contusion, the police said.
According to the police, the suspect asked Okubo to meet him to talk about his girlfriend, and they met at around 7:30 p.m. Thursday at a train station. The suspect then took him out to the river area on his bicycle, the police said.
Near the river, the suspect told Okubo to close his eyes and sit down, saying he would give him a psychological test. Instead, he allegedly beat him to death and kicked his body into the river, they said.
Later in the day, many of Okubo's friends visited the site by the river and left flowers in his memory.
"I can't believe what happened. As the killer was arrested, I prayed for him to rest in peace," said Shuhei Mihara, 16.