Severed body parts have been found in locations indicated by an American man, the Hyogo prefectural police announced Monday.
Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, 26, had been arrested on suspicion of confining a woman, and later admitted to abandoning a woman's dead body.
The police found the severed parts, including a torso, two arms and two legs, in three locations in northern Osaka Prefecture and Kyoto, on Sunday evening.
The crime was discovered on Saturday, when a severed head believed to be that of a missing 27-year-old Japanese woman in Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture, was found in a condo unit in Nishinari Ward, Osaka. The unit had been rented for minpaku private lodging services.
The prefectural police believe all the newly found body parts are those of the missing woman and are working to confirm the body's identity. The police intend to arrest Bayraktar again, on suspicion of abandoning a human body.
According to the announcement, a naked torso and two arms were found on a mountain behind residential areas in Shimamoto, Osaka Prefecture, and the legs were found in a wooded area in Yamashina Ward, Kyoto.
The arms were covered with soil, but the other body parts were placed on the ground without any covering.
The woman went missing after she left her workplace in Sanda on Feb. 15.
Her family filed a missing persons report with the prefectural police, who discovered that the woman had entered a condo unit for minpaku private lodging services in Higashinari Ward, Osaka, together with a foreigner.
Police found Bayraktar, who was staying in the Higashinari condo unit, in Nara and attested him on suspicion of confining the woman.
Police believe the two met through an smartphone communications app.
They also discovered that Bayraktar had reserved the minpaku accommodations in Nishinari Ward, which are about five kilometers southwest of the condo unit in Higashinari Ward.
On Saturday, the police found the severed human head in a large travel bag inside the minpaku unit in Nishinari Ward. Bayraktar initially denied confining the woman, saying he did not know anything about it.
Later, he admitted that he had abandoned the body of a dead woman and told police where he done so.
Video records from security cameras and other devices showed that Bayraktar went in and out of the Higashinari condominium several times carrying a large travel bag on Feb. 18.
The prefectural police believe he transported parts of the body in the bag, and disposed of them on each trip.
Bayraktar entered Japan as a tourist in late January, and stayed in the condominium in Higashinari Ward from around Feb. 12 to 18.
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