Authorities in Kaminokawa, Japan have taken four boys, each 16 years old, into custody over the death of a 69-year-old woman, with police investigating ties to a transient criminal network called tokuryu, according to The New York Times.
The victim, Eiko Tomiyama, ran a family farm growing burdock root and strawberries at a property known locally as the "Burdock Mansion." Tomiyama was found with over 20 stab wounds to her chest, and the attack also left her two sons injured.
A couple in their 20s residing roughly 90 miles away were also taken into custody, with investigators alleging they played a supervisory role in the attack. Investigators are examining whether the four boys were hired to rob the property by a roving criminal group.
The case has renewed public attention in Japan on tokuryu networks, which recruit students and unemployed individuals for robberies, fraud schemes, assaults, and killings. Recruitment typically happens online, where potential members are enticed with offers of easy money through ostensibly legitimate part-time jobs, according to The Times.
The killing has prompted broader debate across Japan about the conduct of young people and the role of the internet in facilitating crime. Situated approximately 70 miles north of Tokyo, Kaminokawa is a quiet agricultural community whose barley and rice fields had long kept it far removed from the concerns of organized crime.
A lifelong Kaminokawa resident, 82-year-old farmer Toki Inaba, told The Times that Tomiyama had been a diligent and well-regarded neighbor.