Man Arrested Over Fatal Stabbing Revealed to be Former Boyfriend of Victim

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:56 JST, January 19, 2023

FUKUOKA — The man arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing a woman this week in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, is a former boyfriend of the victim, according to police.

Susumu Terauchi, a 31-year-old restaurant employee who lives in Fukuoka, has admitted to killing Miki Kawano, 38, police said.

Terauchi is suspected of stabbing Kawano multiple times with a knife on the street at about 6:15 p.m. on Monday, the Fukuoka prefectural police said. Kawano died of blood loss, with more than a dozen cuts and stab wounds on her head, chest and other parts of her body.

Investigators found Terauchi on a street in Hakata Ward on Wednesday morning and asked him to voluntarily accompany them to the Hakata Police Station. Prefectural police confiscated a knife that was in Terauchi’s possession and will investigate whether it was the murder weapon.

Kawano had repeatedly consulted with the police since October last year, saying she was being stalked by Terauchi even after they had broken up. The police gave him a verbal warning, but Terauchi continued to stalk her.

When the police issued a restraining order against him in November based on the Anti-Stalking Law, they gave Kawano a device that alerts the police through a security company when a button is pressed.

However, she did not use the device when she was attacked, according to the prefectural police. Kawano may have been unable to do so because she was abruptly stabbed, they said.

Even after the restraining order was issued, prefectural police patrolled around Kawano’s home for 10 days, they said. On Jan. 6, they contacted Kawano and confirmed that nothing unusual had occurred.

“We believe that the measures taken by the police were appropriate in accordance with the law,” the police said.

A security camera near the crime scene recorded a man attacking Kawano, who worked at a company near where the incident occurred. According to investigators, another security camera filmed the man and Kawano walking toward Hakata Station a few minutes before the attack, holding umbrellas.

Footage taken by a security camera at the crime scene showed the two stopping to talk near a convenience store. In it, the man suddenly pushed Kawano down and repeatedly raised a knife.

The man then left Kawano lying on the ground and walked away, apparently putting the knife into his bag. Prefectural police are analyzing the video footage in the belief that the suspect is Terauchi.