Another boy found murdered in Shizuoka

Police on Saturday found the body of a 15-year-old boy who had been missing from home in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where his mother and younger brother were found murdered Friday, they said.

The bodies of Misaki Sonia Aparecida Ferreira Sampaio, a 41-year-old Japanese-Brazilian, and her 10-year-old son Hiroyuki were found Friday evening inside an apartment they lived in, apparently strangled, police said earlier.

Police had been searching for the older son, Hiroaki, who had been missing since around Tuesday, and found his body inside an apartment, some 800 meters away from his home, they said. The boy was also apparently strangled, they added.

Police are searching for a man in his 30s or 40s, who is Sampaio's acquaintance, believing that he knows something about the death of the three as he lived in the apartment where the 15-year-old was found.

But the man is believed to have left Japan on Tuesday, flying out to Brazil from Narita airport, police said.

The woman was found lying on the living room floor and the boy in the lower level of a bunker bed in a bedroom around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.

The three were apparently strangled as there were marks on their necks and ropes had been found inside a room, police said, adding they believe the three had been murdered several days ago.

The apartment did not appear to be ransacked and the front door was locked when the bodies were found, police said.

The city office had asked the police to check in on the 10-year-old student as he had been absent from school without notice since Tuesday.

The mother worked for a seafood processing plant in the city. The company said she had been missing from work since Tuesday.

Police said the woman's husband, who lived separately, has been interviewed.

The site is in a residential area about 2 kilometers south of JR Yaizu Station.