Masashi Tanimoto, 35, who was arrested last week for allegedly stabbing Megumi Katayama, 24, to death at her apartment building in western Japan, appeared to have targeted another woman three days before the murder took place. Investigative sources told NHK that a man resembling the suspect was seen following another woman near the hotel where he was staying in Kobe on August 17, the night he arrived in the city. He then reportedly entered her condominium when she unlocked the door to go inside. 

“A man came in just before the automatic door closed,” the woman told Yomiuri TV. “I turned around without thinking, and there he was with his smartphone to his ear. He was silent, though. The way he was acting, it seemed like there was nobody on the other end of the line. As he stared at me, I had a gut-feeling that it would be dangerous to get into the elevator with him. I, therefore, decided against it.”

Kobe Murder Suspect Followed Victim for Nearly an Hour 

The woman took refuge in a space at the back of the condominium’s entrance. When she returned, he was gone. It was a lucky escape. Tragically, Katayama, an insurance company employee, wasn’t as fortunate. She was found bleeding from multiple stab wounds in front of the elevator on the sixth-floor of her apartment building on August 20, and was later pronounced dead. Security camera footage from before the attack showed that she had been followed by a man for nearly an hour while returning home from work.

A resident of the building heard screams. A man dressed in black was spotted at the scene with a sharp object in his hand. Tanimoto, a delivery driver from Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, was arrested two days later after he had returned to the capital. He reportedly told investigators he didn’t know “if he intended to kill,” but said it was true that he “stabbed (her) once or twice with a knife.” It’s also been learned that he told the police he didn’t know the victim at all.

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Updated On August 29, 2025