Narumi Kurosaki, a 21-year-old Japanese student, disappeared on December 5, 2016 in Besançon, where she had come to study.
His body has never been found.
After three years of investigation, her former boyfriend, Nicolas Zepeda, was extradited from Chile, where he is from, and indicted for murder in July 2020.
The trial of the 31-year-old Chilean, who has always disputed any link with the disappearance of his former companion, begins this Tuesday before the Doubs Assize Court.
From Franche-Comté to Japan, via Chile and Spain, the investigation lasted more than five years, without ever providing the slightest answer to the main question: where is Narumi Kurosaki?
If her body was never found, investigators have long been certain that the 21-year-old Japanese student, who disappeared in December 2016 in Besançon, is no longer alive.
The suspicions of the investigators very quickly fell on Nicolas Zepeda, her former boyfriend.
This 31-year-old Chilean, extradited from his native country and indicted in July 2020 for "murder" is tried before the Doubs Assize Court from this Tuesday.
The trial may help to understand what happened to the young Japanese woman, who has not given any sign of life since December 5, 2016.
“She has to pay”
That day, the young woman is not in class.
An absence that does not resemble this serious and diligent student, as described by those around her, who benefited from a scholarship to study at the Applied Linguistic Center (CLA) in Besançon.
Investigators are searching room 106 of the Rousseau residence, where Narumi Kurosaki had been living since September, ten days later.
The room is in order, no trace of struggle or blood.
Everything is there: his coat, his credit card, his wallet, and even €500 in cash.
But two things are missing: his suitcase and a blanket.
The investigators are then convinced that it is not a question of a voluntary disappearance.
A judicial investigation for kidnapping and forcible confinement is opened the next day, December 16.
If her boyfriend at the time, Arthur, is the first to be heard, suspicion quickly falls on Nicolas Zepeda, with whom she broke up a few months earlier.
Above all, he is the last person to have seen Narumi Kurosaki alive.
The former lovers had met in October 2014 at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.
After a year and a half of relationship, the young woman moved to France and distanced herself.
A situation that Nicolas did not support, especially since Narumi started a new relationship – with Arthur, therefore.
In September 2016, the Chilean posted a video on YouTube – since deleted – in which he spoke directly to the young woman: “Recently, Narumi has done bad things, which requires him to follow certain conditions to preserve this relationship [ …].
If Narumi can follow these conditions for two weeks, I will leave these conditions without effect […].
She has to pay a small cost for what she did and assume that, assume that she can't go anywhere making these kinds of mistakes with someone who loves her.
“Between their breakup – at the end of August 2016 – and October 8, Nicolas and Narumi exchanged more than 1,000 messages, in which he oscillated between declarations of love and insults.
Cries "that freeze the blood"
At the very beginning of December, the Chilean travels to France and reconnects with Narumi.
On the 4th, the two former lovers dined in a restaurant in Ornans, about twenty kilometers from Besançon.
Then they return to the young girl's university residence.
In front of the investigators, Nicolas admits having had a sexual relationship with her that night, but claims to have left Narumi's room on December 5 in the early morning, when she was "in perfect health".
Of that night, however, about fifteen students who lived in the university residence remember the cries "which freeze the blood".
From that moment, the investigators definitely lose track of the Japanese student.
But a bundle of clues overwhelms Nicolas Zepeda, according to investigators.
Starting with Narumi's phone.
If he is inactive from December 5, messages continue to be sent to his relatives via his Facebook account until December 13, when Nicolas Zepeda flies to Chile.
While there is no evidence that the Chilean is the author of these messages, he, according to investigators, asked Japanese friends to translate several sentences for him, such as "I have a new boyfriend, I go on my own", or "I'm taking a train to go on a trip, I can't use wifi".
And upon his arrival in France, on December 1, Nicolas Zepeda had bought detergent, matches and a can of flammable product, according to his bank statements peeled by the investigators.
The day after Narumi disappeared, he went at dawn, according to the geolocation of his rental car, to a forest area near Dole (Jura).
Significant resources have been deployed in this area, but the investigators have not found the slightest trace of Narumi's body.
An investigation carried out with "blinkers"
On December 7, the Chilean leaves France to go to a cousin in Barcelona.
Questioned by the investigators, the latter gives several disturbing details, such as the fact that Nicolas speaks of Narumi in the past tense, that he asks several questions about death by asphyxiation and that he asks him to remain discreet about his visit.
On December 13, the Chilean leaves Spain and flies to Chile.
After several years of investigation, French justice requests his extradition, which will be – a rare occurrence – accepted a few months later by the Chilean authorities.
Upon his arrival in France in July 2020, the young man was examined for "assassination".
On the eve of the trial, "there are always more questions than answers in this case," said Nicolas Zepeda's defense at
20 Minutes
, judging that the investigation was carried out with "blinkers".
The accused, whose parents have traveled from Chile for the hearing, is waiting "for the trial to come and do what the investigation did not do, for his explanation to be heard, and for it to be recognized that the elements presented to us are not enough.
Today, we still do not know what he is accused of, ”adds his defense.
Contacted by
20 Minutes
, Narumi's family lawyer did not wish to speak before the start of the hearing.
Nicolas Zepeda, who has always disputed any link with the disappearance of his former girlfriend, faces life imprisonment.
Society
Disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki: Nicolas Zepeda, her ex-boyfriend and suspect, indicted for murder
Miscellaneous facts
Besançon: One year after the disappearance of a Japanese student, a new targeted search area in the Jura
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Besancon
Chile
Franche-Comte
Japan
Disappearance
Trial
Assassination
Justice
Investigation
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