Crime & Courts

Bloodstains on clothing taken from triple murder suspect’s house match victims’ DNA

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Murder suspect Jun Saito leaves the Sayama Police Station in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, on his way to the prosecutors office on Dec. 27, 2022.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:18 JST, January 4, 2023

Bloodstains on clothing and other items seized from the home of the suspect in a recent triple murder case in Saitama Prefecture matched the DNA of the three victims, investigative sources reveled Wednesday. According to the sources, the suspect, Jun Saito, has been denying involvement after being sent to the prosecutors on one charge of murder, saying: “I didn’t do it. I had nothing to do with it.”

Sixty nine-year-old American citizen William Ross Bishop Jr., his 68-year-old wife Izumi Morita and their 32-year-old daughter Sophianna Megumi Morita, who was visiting her parents’ home in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, at the time of the incident, were found dead on the grounds of the couple’s house on the morning of Dec. 25. They were believed to have suffered severe blows to the head and neck with a blunt object.

Saitama prefectural police identified Saito from eyewitness accounts and security camera footage. The police have been examining bloodied clothing, blunt objects and knives seized from Saito’s house, near the crime scene.