Fans of Namie Amuro Stabbed to Death in Front of JR Hakata Station

Why did you call the police? You’ll lose your job!

In a fit of rage, the man stormed into his ex-boyfriend’s workplace and yelled at him, “Why did you call the police?’

A tragic incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. on January 16, when Miki Kawano, then 38, a company employee living in Nakagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, was stabbed to death on a street in front of JR Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture. She suffered dozens of stab wounds to her head and chest, and the cause of death was blood loss. Suspected murderer Susumu Terauchi, 31, a restaurant worker and former boyfriend of Ms. Kawano, was arrested.

Terauchi apparently ambushed Ms. Kawano near her work place. Security cameras showed the two of them walking toward Hakata Station, holding umbrellas. While they were walking and talking, they got into an argument. Terauchi pulled Ms. Kawano down and mounted her, and repeatedly and persistently stabbed her with a knife. After the crime, he returned to his apartment, changed out of his bloodstained clothes, and disappeared.

He was taken into custody by the Fukuoka Prefectural Police two days later on the 18th. An investigator, who finds a specific person among the crowd, found Terauchi disguised in glasses and a mask in Nakasu, a downtown area about 1.5 km away from the crime scene. He was in possession of a knife, but he was willing to go along with the investigators and admitted the crime, saying, ‘I’m sure I stabbed her.’

He is in the same grade as Eriko Imai.

Terauchi was born in Fukushima Ward, Osaka City. After dropping out of high school, he worked at restaurants in Roppongi, Tokyo and Minami, Osaka. He began working part-time at a bar in Nakasu in April of last year. One of the bar’s regular customers was Kawano.

She once lived in Okinawa in her late teens and was a student at the “Actors School,” which produced Namie Amuro, a former member of “SPEED,” and others. She was in the same grade as Eriko Imai, a former member of “SPEED” and a member of the House of Councilors, and she admired Ms. Amuro.

She came to Fukuoka about 10 years ago. She was married, but after her divorce, she raised her daughter as a single mother. She lives with her parents and her beloved daughter. She met Terauchi at a bar she frequented, and they began dating around last spring.

However, from the beginning of their relationship, Terauchi’s restraints were strong.

Terauchi seems to be a jealous person. He always suspected Ms. Kawano of cheating on him, and had her use a smartphone app that showed her location. He also took her smartphone away from her, which caused the relationship to deteriorate, and we hear that Ms. Kawano told him she was breaking up with him around last fall. Ms. Kawano is said to have told people around her that she was afraid of him because he was too restrictive.

Even after the dissolution of the relationship, Terauchi persistently followed Ms. Kawano around. In October of last year, Ms. Kawano asked the police for a warning, and in November Terauchi began to appear at her workplace, prompting the police to issue an emergency ban under the Stalking Control Law.

In response to the police warning, Terauchi told the police that he would not approach her anymore, but she was not convinced. After that, he persistently contacted Ms. Kawano. When the relationship ended, the suspect’s resentment grew, and he is believed to have committed this crime.

According to the National Police Agency, the number of emergency restraining orders issued to Terauchi jumped from 173 in 2016 to 1,671 in 2021. The number of stalker consultations reached 20,000. Ms. Kawano lost her life due to a recrimination by Terauchi. She would have celebrated her 39th birthday on January 18, the day Terauchi was arrested.