A 9-year-old boy who fell 15 floors to his death in Kawasaki last week might have been thrown from the condominium building, police said after a woman was attacked by a man on the same floor Wednesday.
Following the assault, the Kanagawa prefectural police opened an investigation into the cases.
According to Tama Police Station, Yuki Yamakawa, a resident of a Tama Ward condominium fell from the 15th floor corridor at about 12:50 p.m. on March 20. His schoolbag was found in the corridor.
A 1.3-meter-high handrail--about the same height as the boy--is installed along the corridor, but the police were unable to find the boy's fingerprints on the railing, leading them to suspect he did not climb over it on his own.
The prefectural police examined footage recorded by a security camera equipped inside an elevator in the condominium. The tape showed the boy turned left in the corridor after exiting the elevator on the 15th floor. A man standing outside the elevator doors then followed the boy. The boy fell from the corridor mere seconds after he left the elevator. Soon after the incident, the suspicious man hurried down the stairs and was recorded by another security camera on the first floor of the building.
According to the camera footage, the man was wearing a pair of glasses and was about 160 centimeters tall. He appeared to be between 30 and 50 years of age.
The elevator stops every other floor. The boy is believed to have left the elevator on the 15th floor to take the stairs down to the 14th floor where he lived.
The police are investigating Wednesday's attack on the same floor.
According to the police, a 68-year-old custodian was asked by a man wearing a pair of glasses to have a look at garbage left on the 15th floor as she was clearing the first floor at about 9:30 a.m. The two reportedly got in the elevator together. When they exited, the man shoved her down and then tried to lift her. But she resisted, and he ran away.
The woman said the man walking behind Yamakawa, shown in the footage, looked similar to her attacker.
The prefectural police found the attacker's fingerprints on an elevator button and her broom and dustpan. The police are examining the fingerprints on suspicion her attacker may be the same person as that shown in the March 20 footage.
Following a spate of reports of suspicious people at the condominium since last year, the residents association decided to install several security cameras earlier this month.
In response to the expanded investigation into the boy's death, the association Thursday morning distributed a letter to each unit at the condominium, explaining last week's incident as well as Wednesday's attack.
According to a resident in her 50s, a middle-aged man who would follow residents or wait for them near the elevator has been spotted in the building over the past several years.
One 17-year-old student said, "I live on one of the higher floors, too, so I'm really scared of walking in the corridor."
An 18-year-old student said: "Police showed me video footage of a gray-haired man getting into an elevator. I knew there was something strange going on here."
Akio Sasaki, principal of Nakanoshima Primary School, where the boy was enrolled, received the news from the Kawasaki Municipal Board of Education.
Sasaki said Thursday: "I feel so sorry [about what happened to him]. That't all I can say now. I hope the police solve this case as soon as possible."
Yomiuri
Full Version: Murder suspected in boy's fall
maybe he witnessed something? 
there's other article that says someone's been showing private parts to school girls near that same complex
there's other article that says someone's been showing private parts to school girls near that same complex
update_boy's pic inside 
QUOTE
KAWASAKI -- A middle-aged man, who was arrested Saturday for assaulting a woman at a condominium where a 9-year-old boy was thrown to death, has admitted that he hurled the boy off the building, local police said.
"I'm responsible for both cases," Kenji Imai, 41, was quoted as telling investigators. He is accused of attempted murder and trespassing.
"I read a newspaper (that carried a photo of the suspect caught by a surveillance camera), and decided to turn myself in."
Police are grilling Imai in a bid to press murder charges against him over the death of Yuki Yamakawa, a third-year elementary school boy.
In the specific case for which he was arrested, Imai sneaked into the compounds of an apartment complex in the Nakanoshima district of Tama-ku, Kawasaki, on Wednesday morning, and lured a 68-year-old woman working as a cleaner to the 15th floor, local police said. He then hit her and grabbed her in a bid to hurl her from the building.
On March 20, nine days earlier, Yuki plunged 45 meters to his death from the 15th floor of the same apartment complex, investigators said.
Shortly before both incidents, a security camera at the complex caught a suspicious man on film. Prefectural police released the image of the man and asked the public for information on the two incidents.
The suspect bears a close resemblance to the man caught by the surveillance camera and is familiar with the neighborhood, investigators said.
"I'm responsible for both cases," Kenji Imai, 41, was quoted as telling investigators. He is accused of attempted murder and trespassing.
"I read a newspaper (that carried a photo of the suspect caught by a surveillance camera), and decided to turn myself in."
Police are grilling Imai in a bid to press murder charges against him over the death of Yuki Yamakawa, a third-year elementary school boy.
In the specific case for which he was arrested, Imai sneaked into the compounds of an apartment complex in the Nakanoshima district of Tama-ku, Kawasaki, on Wednesday morning, and lured a 68-year-old woman working as a cleaner to the 15th floor, local police said. He then hit her and grabbed her in a bid to hurl her from the building.
On March 20, nine days earlier, Yuki plunged 45 meters to his death from the 15th floor of the same apartment complex, investigators said.
Shortly before both incidents, a security camera at the complex caught a suspicious man on film. Prefectural police released the image of the man and asked the public for information on the two incidents.
The suspect bears a close resemblance to the man caught by the surveillance camera and is familiar with the neighborhood, investigators said.
What a mean bastard.
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