A 49-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of ``murdering and abandoning'' a woman's body in a forest in Fukui, possibly her boyfriend, Ishikawa Prefectural Police say.

On the 8th, prefectural police arrested unemployed Takashi Utsunomiya, 49, of Kawauchi, Asaminami Ward, Hiroshima City, on suspicion of confining a woman in her 20s living in Ishikawa Prefecture in a car and taking her around. Based on a statement to the effect that he had ``murdered a woman and abandoned her in the mountains,'' a search was conducted in a forest in Awara City, Fukui Prefecture, and her body was discovered on the 7th. Ishikawa Prefectural Police will continue to confirm the identity of the body, and will also investigate possible charges of murder and abandonment of the body.

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According to prefectural police, the two appear to have been dating, and in July, the woman consulted him about wanting to break off their relationship. On the 5th of this month, the parents reported to the police that they were unable to contact their daughter, and Utsunomiya was identified as the suspect through analysis of security cameras. Hiroshima Prefectural Police investigators were contacted and took custody of the suspect in Hiroshima city. He partially denies the charges of confinement, saying, ``I put him in the car, but I didn't force him into it.''