A Japanese man was arrested on Tuesday after the police found nine bodies inside his apartment in Zama city near Tokyo, Kyodo news agency reported. Two of the bodies had their heads severed. The bodies were of eight women and a man.

The police found the bodies while investigating the man, Takahiro Shiraishi, in connection with the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman in Tokyo. “It’s true that I tried to hide the bodies of the people I killed to destroy evidence,” the 27-year-old is said to have told police.

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The two severed heads were found inside an ice box at the entrance of the flat.

The police launched an investigation after the woman’s brother reported her missing on October 24. She is believed to have met Shiraishi online after he responded to a message she posted on a website saying she wanted to kill herself. The brother found the messages they exchanged when he logged into her computer and then alerted police about the man.

One of the bodies is believed to be of the woman, but the police will conduct DNA tests to confirm.