Filipino man arrested over bodies found under Tokyo home

A Filipino man has been arrested in connection with the case of a couple whose bodies were found underneath their home with stab wounds in Tokyo last week, police said Tuesday.

Bryan Jefferson Lising Dela Cruz, 34, is suspected of abandoning the bodies of Norihiro Takahashi, 55, and his wife Kimie, 52, at their residence in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. He has admitted to the allegations following his arrest on Monday, according to the police.

Dela Cruz appears to be an acquaintance of Hazel Ann Baguisa Morales, 30, who was arrested on Friday over the same charges, the police said.

His potential involvement emerged after Morales, a former girlfriend of the deceased couple’s son, was seen with an individual in security camera footage taken in the house’s vicinity on Jan. 16, the police said.

Dela Cruz, a resident of Tsuchiura in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, came to Japan as a technical trainee last July. Police believe he conspired with Morales to dispose of the couple’s bodies underneath their home around Jan. 16.

Morales denies the allegations, investigators said.

The couple’s bodies were found under a bathroom floor on Thursday after their son called the police on Jan. 16 to report them missing and that he had found traces of blood at their home.

Both bodies were found with multiple stab wounds, with Norihiro Takahashi’s injuries indicating signs of a struggle, investigative sources have said.