Dismembered Japanese girl, 6, found in plastic bags

 
THE dismembered body of a six-year-old Japanese girl has been found in several plastic bags near her home.
DNA tests confirmed the body parts were those of Mirei Ikuta, who went missing in the western Japan city of Kobe on September 11, local police said.
There were five smaller bags, containing the victim’s head, the upper torso with arms, and the legs. A police spokesman said some body parts had yet to be found.
Clothes and sandals believed to belong to the girl were also found at the site, he added.
The wooded area where the girl’s remains were found is only 150m from where she lived. Tragically, police said they searched the area early last week.
Officers today arrested a 47-year-old man who also lives in the neighbourhood.
According to Japan Today, Ikuta left school around 2.45pm on September 11. She dropped in to see her grandmother who lives near the school and left her school bag there. She then went home
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Missing ... A missing poster for Mirei Ikuta. Source: Supplied

Street surveillance camera footage showed Mirei walking past a shop 400m from her home at 3:15pm.
After returning home, she then went out again, but her mother told police she had no idea why. She was last seen walking by an athletics ground of a high school about 5.30pm.
Japan has one of the world’s lowest crime rates and violent crime is relatively rare. It is not uncommon for children as young as six to walk home alone from school, even in big cities.
An intensive search was launched after Mirei failed to return home two weeks ago, but there were no leads until a number of foul-smelling plastic bags were uncovered in a bush just 100m from the girl’s house on Tuesday.