Murder of Ryōta Uemura

Ryōta Uemura (上村 遼太, Uemura Ryōta, 2002–2015) was a 13-year-old Japanese boy who was tortured and murdered in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. His body was discovered in the Tama River on Friday, February 20, 2015.^[1][2] On February 25, 2015, the police arrested three boys in relation with Uemura's murder. Two of the suspects told the police that the alleged ringleader was inspired by Jihadi John's killings. It is unclear whether any of the three arrested suspects was the ringleader.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} The same two suspects also provided details of the circumstances of Uemara's murder.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]}

Prior to his death, Uemura had apparently been refusing to commit crimes for a group of older boys with whom he spent time, and wanted to cut ties with them. At the time of his death, his mother was working as a nurse to support her children.^[3][19][20]

Victim

Uemura was well known among his friends as a cheerful boy. When he stopped going to school, his teacher called his parents to see if anything was wrong.^[21][22] After his parents divorced, his mother raised him and his four siblings.^[23]

Reaction

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe expressed his condolences to the victim's family and vowed that Japan should not have another similar tragedy. It was the third shocking incident in 2015, after a 19-year-old college student killed 77-year-old Tomoko Mori.^{[24][25][26][27]} On March 5, 2015, after Uemura's mother released statements about her son's death,^[28] the three boys previously arrested were charged with murder.^[29]

See also

• Kobe child murders
• Sasebo schoolgirl murder
• Murder of Junko Furuta
• Sasebo slashing

References