The victim of Monday's fatal stabbing in the city of Saitama may have been a random target, it was learned Wednesday.
Rena Tegara, a 15-year-old high school student, is believed to have been a stranger to the 24-year-old alleged attacker, Hiroyuki Taniuchi, investigative sources said.
Investigations, including an analysis of data from the victim's smartphone, found no links between the two, according to the sources.
As Taniuchi lived and worked near the scene of the incident, police believe that he committed the attack randomly in an area he is familiar with.
Tegara was attacked near the entrance of an apartment building where she lived at around 8:15 p.m. Monday. She died from organ damage after being stabbed several times in the upper body.
Taniuchi turned up at a nearby police box on Tuesday and was arrested. But he has kept silent since his arrest, the sources said.
Footage from several security cameras shows a man who appears to be Taniuchi hanging around within 1 kilometers of the scene but not following in the victim's footsteps, they said.
Taniuchi began working for a construction firm located about 500 meters from the scene in October last year. He lived in a dormitory in the firm's building.
On the day of the incident, he worked at a construction site in Tokyo and returned to the firm around 2 p.m., according to the sources.
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