Japan Police Question US Tourist About Severed Head

Police in Japan are questioning an American tourist after discovering a severed head in a flat he was renting.

An American tourist has been taken into police custody and is being questioned after Japanese police discovered the severed head of a woman in a suitcase inside of the vacation home he was renting, the Daily Mail reports. According to police, Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, 26, of New York, has been taken into custody and is a suspect in the woman's murder.

Bayraktar was arrested on Thursday, Feb. 22, after police received a tip that the American tourist was confining a woman inside his vacation rental at Osaka's Higashinari Ward. At the vacation home rental, authorities discovered the severed head of the woman, who has not yet been identified, inside of a suitcase.

Bayraktar and the woman, 27, allegedly met on a dating app and the two were planning on meeting, the woman apparently told one of her friends.

Both the New York man and the woman were spotted together on security footage at the JR Morinomiya Station in Osaka around midnight on Friday, Feb. 16, just hours before she went missing. According to local reports, the security footage shows Bayraktar entering and exiting the apartment with a suitcase multiple times. The unidentified woman was only seen entering the apartment and not leaving.

The BBC reports that no other human remains have been found.

Local papers report that the suspect has denied any connection with the case and has remained silent when questioned by police.