Japanese man arrested over murder of 9

TOKYO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Police in Chiba Prefecture, close to Tokyo, on Friday arrested the head of a parents' association on suspicion of abandoning the body of a Vietnamese girl last month.

Police arrested Yasumasa Shibuya, 46, for allegedly abandoning the body of Le Thi Nhat Linh, a 9-year-old girl who was in the third-grade of elementary school in Matsudo City in Chiba.

Thi Nhat Linh's body was found in a grassy area near a drainage system in Abiko, also in Chiba, on the morning of March 26, investigators have said.

Investigative sources also said that Shibuya, who was arrested at the girl's school, has not responded to questions about the incident, but confirmed his DNA matched that found in samples taken form the area where the girl's body was found.

Shibuya, who works for a real estate leasing business, is the head of the parents' association at the girl's school and a member of a volunteer patrol group that helps children get to school safely.

According to local accounts he is one of a number of parents who take turns standing on the roads to ensure the children are kept safe on their way to school.

Shibuya was absent from his duties on the morning the girl went missing, the local education board said.

Linh went missing after she left home for her school, located just 600 meters from her home, on March 24.

Her body was discovered two days later around 10 km from her school, according to local accounts.

Investigators believe she was abducted soon after leaving her home and was dumped in the field after being strangled at another location.

Her school bag and some clothes were found close to the Tone River which lies about 20 km from where her body was found.

Linh had been living with her parents and her younger brother in Matsudo since Dec. 2015. Prior to that she had lived in Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture.

After the murder came to light, Shibuya, in his role as head of the parents' group, had been collecting donations to help Linh's family go back to Vietnam, local sources said.