Overview

• Hyogo Prefectural Police arrested Tanimoto Masashi, 35, on suspicion of murder after he was located in Tokyo with assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department.
• The victim, insurance employee Katayama Megumi, 24, was stabbed in her building’s elevator on August 20 and died of blood loss from multiple chest wounds.
• Security cameras show a man tailing her through an auto‑lock entrance, and a building monitor captured a struggle inside the elevator as residents reported hearing screams.
• A bloodied knife recovered near the scene carried DNA matching the victim, and blood traces on stair railings indicate the attacker used the stairs to flee.
• Investigators traced the suspect’s movements across prefectural lines, including imagery suggesting a Shinkansen trip from Shin‑Kobe, and he has told police he did not intend to kill.