Postal worker confesses to stabbing Osaka taxi driver; police find body

OSAKA — A postal worker, who is in police custody in a robbery case, has confessed to stabbing an Osaka taxi driver last month and police said Sunday they found a dead body based on the man's confessions. Police identified the suspect as Takeshi Hiratani, 35, who works at the Suita Senri Post Office in Osaka Prefecture. Hiratani told police that he stabbed Kaname Maekubo, a 59-year-old taxi driver in Takatsuki.
Police said they are trying to identify the body which was found in a vacant lot in Takatsuki after the suspect confessed to stabbing the taxi driver. Maekubo went missing Sept 17 after witnesses saw him quarreling with another man in front of a company condominium in Takatsuki, according to investigators.