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Held captive for two years, teen girl escapes Tokyo kidnapper

Her disappearance was major news in Japan at the time.

Police say the girl, who is now 15, escaped from suspect Kabu Terauchi’s apartment in downtown Tokyo while he was shopping in Akihabara, a district that’s popular among technology and comic book geeks, according to The National Post.

She was seen wearing a sweat suit and sandals in the cold when she called her parents from a pay phone at a train station in downtown Tokyo. Her mother alerted police, who then raided Terauchi’s apartment.

Police found Terauchi 100 kilometers away in the Shizuoka region. It’s thought that he tried to kill himself, according to BBC News.

He allegedly abducted the girl in March 2014 by telling her he was a lawyer working on her parents’ divorce. An arrest warrant for him was issued Sunday after the girl was placed in protective custody. Local reports say she appears physically unharmed.

Police say Terauchi kept the girl locked in his apartment for most of the two years and watched her closely whenever she went outside.

They also allege he kidnapped the girl after approaching her near her home in Asaka, located in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, by telling her to get into his car after manufacturing a story that her parents were splitting up.

Later in the day, her mother found a note that was apparently written by her daughter in her mail box, asking her parents not to look for her, according to Asahi Shimbun.

Prefectural police in Shizuoka and Saitama say that a newspaper delivery man reported seeing a man covered in blood walking on a street in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, about 3:15 a.m. on March 28.

Officers from the Ito Police Station found the man and confirmed his identity. He was carrying a box cutter and a wallet and told police he used the blade in a suicide attempt. However, police weren’t able to question him because he was bleeding so heavily they said.

The teenager told police Terauchi kept her under “full-time, de facto confinement.” She also told them she was “abducted in front of my home in Saitama by being forced into a car by an unfamiliar man.”

Police obtained an arrest warrant for Terauchi and investigators searched his apartment early Monday.

The girl disappeared on March 10, 2014, just after getting out of junior high school for the day. She was last seen chatting with a young man in front of her home in Asaka, Asahi Shimbun reports.

While the girl was held captive, Terauchi attended a university. He graduated earlier this month and had a job offer, National Post reports.

He is currently being treated at a hospital in Shizuoka Prefecture, near Tokyo, for injuries on the right side of his neck. The injuries are serious, but not life-threatening. Police say they will arrest Terauchi after he recovers.

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