American tourist arrested in Japan after severed head was found in a suitcase in his rented holiday flat

An American tourist is in police custody in Japan after the severed head of a woman was found in a suitcase in his holiday rental flat.

Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, 26, from New York, has been arrested and is being questioned by police following the discovery in Osaka last week.

The victim is believed to be a 27-year-old woman from Sanda in Hyogo prefecture. She was last seen on CCTV cameras alongside Mr Bayraktar, just hours before she went missing on February 16.

Security footage reportedly captured the woman meeting Bayraktar at a train station in Osaka around midnight and then entering an apartment building together. After that, Mr Bayraktar, who is thought to have arrived in Japan in January for a sightseeing trip, was captured on security footage entering and leaving the flat several times on February 16 with a suitcase, but there was no further sign of the woman. 

The woman had earlier told a friend that she was planning to meet a man she had met via a social networking site, according to local newspapers. When she did not return home on February 17 and her mobile phone was no longer going through, her relatives reported to police.