Overview

• Hyogo Prefectural Police conducted a search early Wednesday of the Shinjuku company dorm where Masashi Tanimoto, 35, lived, collecting boxes of potential evidence.
• Surveillance footage shows a man resembling Tanimoto loitering near Megumi Katayama’s workplace the day before the attack and waiting near the building on the day of the killing.
• Investigators say he followed the 24-year-old about 4 kilometers for nearly 50 minutes, slipped into her auto-lock building before the door closed, and fatally stabbed her in an elevator around 7:20 p.m. on August 20.
• CCTV and travel records indicate he took a taxi near his hotel to JR Shin-Kobe Station and boarded an evening Shinkansen toward Tokyo; he was taken into custody on August 22 in Okutama.
• Police say Tanimoto arrived in Kobe on August 17 for summer leave, stayed at a hotel near her workplace, and had bought round-trip Shinkansen tickets on July 26; he told investigators he did not know the victim and has partially denied intent.