Former Japan nursing home employee, 22, arrested for murder of resident

TOKYO – A 22-year-old man who formerly worked at a nursing home in Saitama prefecture near Tokyo was arrested on Oct 15 on suspicion of murdering one of two elderly female residents who were

found bleeding at the facility

and were both later confirmed dead, local police said.

Toya Kimura, 22, was apprehended after the police received an emergency call at around 4:55am when a nursing home staff member found the two on the fourth and fifth floors of the five-storey building in Tsurugashima.

The suspect has admitted to killing one of the two residents, Ms Toshiko Kobayashi, 89, the police said. Kimura, who quit his job at the nursing home in July 2024, was apprehended near the facility earlier in the day after security camera footage captured him fleeing the scene.

Acting on information from the suspect, the police found a bag abandoned on a street in the city containing a knife and clothing.

The bodies of Ms Kobayashi and another woman, Ms Akiko Uei, 89, had multiple stab wounds, according to the police.

There are multiple entrances to the facility, which houses about 60 to 70 elderly residents, and it is not clear whether they were locked when the women were found unconscious.

The nursing home is located in a residential area about 250m south of Tobu Railway’s Wakaba station. KYODO