Three men who met on Net charged over slaying

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Three men who said they met via a cell phone Internet site that matches "crime mates" were arrested Sunday on suspicion of abandoning the body of a woman, and police plan to add murder and robbery charges after finishing their investigation.

Aichi police identified the victim, whose body was found in a forest in Gifu Prefecture, as Rie Isogai, a 31-year-old office worker from Chikusa Ward, Nagoya.

The three suspects have allegedly admitted to dumping her body.

Those arrested were Kenji Kawagishi, 40, an unemployed man with no fixed address, Tsukasa Kanda, 36, a newspaper salesman from Toyoake, Aichi Prefecture, and Yoshitomo Hori, 32, an unemployed man from Nagoya.

The men reportedly told investigators they got together through the "crime mates" Internet site and didn't reveal their real names to each other.

According to the police, the three said they grabbed Isogai off a street in Chikusa Ward at around 10 p.m. Friday.

They said they killed her two hours later in a parking lot in Aisai, Aichi Prefecture, by striking her head dozens of times with a hammer and robbed her of some ¥70,000 in cash.

They told police they had never met her before.

Kawagishi turned himself at around 1 p.m. Saturday, telling the police he and the others abducted the woman, robbed her and dumped her body in Gifu Prefecture.

He later told investigators they killed her because she saw their faces.

He was quoted as saying he contacted the police because he was "scared of receiving capital punishment."

Police found Isogai's body and arrested the two other men based on Kawagishi's statements.

Her body was clothed and half-covered with sand, police said. She was handcuffed and her face bore marks of adhesive tape.

Isogai lived with her 56-year-old mother. She was apparently on her way home from work Friday when she was abducted. She usually came home around 7:30 p.m., but she happened to return home later that day.