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Japanese Teen Escapes Two Years In Captivity — Kidnapper, 23, Slashes Neck With Box Cutter

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 04:47 PST, Mar 28, 2016

A Japanese teen has escaped an apartment in Tokyo where she was held captive for two years. Her alleged kidnapper was later found standing in the road, bleeding from the neck with a box cutter in his hand.

Kabu Terauchi, 23, is now facing kidnapping charges, and the girl is in protective custody, the Japan Times reported. The bizarre incident, which took place on Sunday, puts an end to a two-year odyssey in which her parents were led to believe their 13-year-old daughter ran away, BBC News added.

Meanwhile, Terauchi allegedly told the girl her parents were divorcing. But when the Japanese teen, now 15, finally escaped, the first person she called was her mother. The family has been reunited, and her father spoke of his daughter’s recovery to the Times.

“I’m really relieved. I want to spend time with my daughter so that we can regain time we’ve lost.”

The Japanese teen’s ordeal began in the Saitama Prefecture, which is near Tokyo, two years ago. She was last seen on March 10, 2014, speaking to a young man in front of her home in Asaka. The young man allegedly approached her and said her parents were splitting up.

CBS News reported that Terauchi pretended to be a lawyer working on the divorce proceedings. Under that pretext, he forced her into his car. That same day, her mother found a note in her mailbox, ostensibly written by her daughter, which said, “Don’t look for me.”

Her abduction made headlines in Japanese media at the time, and police began an investigation, begging the public for help.

Since she escaped, the Japanese teen has been able to fill in more blanks. She said her abductor took her to the city of Chiba at first, where he attended college. Last month, he moved to an apartment in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward with the youth in tow.

Apparently, Terauchi attended university during the time he allegedly kept the teen captive and graduated this month with an engineering degree. He was starting a new job in April.

Few details were provided about the Japanese teen’s months in captivity. She was locked inside the apartment most of the time and closely watched, but she was never put in restraints of any kind. He took her outside on occasion, but the police believe she hadn’t escaped because the opportunity never arose.

But on Sunday, she found her opportunity and escaped into the streets of downtown Tokyo in sandals and sweatpants, heading first for a public phone.

The Japanese teen told police that he went shopping in the Akihabara district, known for technology and comic book stores, and forgot to lock the door.

“The man went outside, saying he would go to Akihabara. Usually the door was locked from the outside, but it was not today.”

While he was out, she escaped and called her mother shortly before noon from the Higashi-Nakano railway station. The relieved mother told the teen to call the police, and then she made a separate call to emergency personnel.

The escaped captive was quickly rescued and police raided her alleged abductor’s apartment. It’s not clear where Terauchi was at this time, but he apparently fled Tokyo.

In a forested area about 60 miles west of the city, a newspaper delivery man saw the young man at about 3 a.m. Monday. He was standing in the road and covered in blood, a box cutter in his hand. The police responded and arrested him.

The man didn’t resist arrest and admitted that after his alleged captive escaped, he tried to kill himself by slashing his neck. His injuries were reported as minor, and he is recovering in the hospital.

[Image via GongTo/Shutterstock]

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