National News Akita woman indicted for murder of 7-year-old boy

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AKITA （Kyodo）-- A woman in Akita Prefecture was indicted July 17 on charges of murdering a boy in May this year.

Suzuka Hatakeyama, 33, was arrested June 4 for allegedly leaving the body of the 7-year-old boy Goken Yoneyama near a river.

She was then served a second arrest warrant June 25 on suspicion of killing him May 17, a month after her daughter was found drowned in another river

Reversing past statements, Ha-takeyama recently said she had dropped her 9-year-old daughter Aya-ka from a bridge into the river. She did this because Ayaka was "annoying," sources quoted Hatakeyama as saying during questioning by police

Police have said Ayaka's fractured skull showed that she was alive when she was hit on the head, which means she may have been beaten before falling into the river.

Originally, Hatakeyama said her daughter had gone missing after going out to meet a friend. Then she changed her story, saying that she and Ayaka went to the bridge and Ayaka had accidentally fallen in.

The police served a new warrant on her July 18 for killing Ayaka

Hatakeyama has told the police she killed Yoneyama, as she believed a murder of a child would make people think that Ayaka was also killed by someone, according to the sources

The police are facing growing criticism because they had initially concluded Ayaka had died in an accident. Some local residents have said that Yoneyama might still be alive if the police had looked at Ayaka's case more closely.

秋田男児殺害事件で起訴

5月に起きた秋田県の小学生殺害事件で17日、畠山鈴香容疑者が起訴された。

Shukan ST: July 28, 2006

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