Man detained in Chiba girl's death slapped with fresh arrest warrant for murder

CHIBA -- Police served Yasumasa Shibuya, arrested in April on suspicion of abandoning the body of 9-year-old Le Thi Nhat Linh in the prefectural city of Abiko, with a fresh arrest warrant on May 5 accusing him of the girl's murder, among other offences.

Linh, a Vietnamese citizen, went missing on the morning of March 24, after she left her family home to attend a school ceremony marking the end of the academic year. Her body was found near a drainage ditch under a bridge in Abiko on March 26. She is believed to have been choked to death.

Police arrested the 46-year-old Shibuya, who lives close to Linh's family, on suspicion of abandoning her body, on April 14, and had been investigating his possible involvement in Linh's murder.

Shibuya was the head of the parents' association at the school Linh attended when she went missing.