Hiroshi Maeue

The body, which appears to be that of a 21-year-old university student from Higashi-Osaka, was found based on testimony by Hiroshi Maeue, 36, a temp agency employee, who was arrested Aug. 5.

Investigators search a body of the third victim of Hiroshi Maeura in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture, on Aug. 7.

On Aug. 6, police dug up part of a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy at a mountainside in Izumi, southern Osaka. Maeue told investigators he had buried the body there.

Maeue, who is from Sakai in Osaka, was arrested on suspicion of strangling a 25-year-old woman named Michiko Nagamoto in February.

The police believe Maeue had proposed to Nagamoto that they commit suicide together, though he apparently had no intention to kill himself, the sources earlier said.

Maeue admitted to killing Nagamoto, and said he feels "excited" to see a person being strangled and suffering in agony, they said.

The Japan Times: Aug. 13, 2005
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