Severed head on peak came from missing student

MATSUE, Shimane Pref. (Kyodo) The severed head of a young woman found Friday on Mount Garyu in Hiroshima Prefecture has been confirmed to be that of a 19-year-old student missing in Shimane Prefecture, police said early Saturday.

Miyako Hiraoka, a freshman at the University of Shimane in Hamada, about 25 km from the mountain, had been missing since the evening of Oct. 26, when she failed to return to her dormitory after finishing her part-time job.

A joint police squad from Shimane and Hiroshima prefectures has determined through an autopsy that Hiraoka was killed within five days of her disappearance, investigative sources said.

It also said her head, which was found at around 1:45 p.m. by a mushroom hunter on a slope near the top of the 1,223-meter peak in Kita-Hiroshima, showed signs Hiraoka was struck in the face, the sources said.

Since there was no blood near the spot where the head was found, the woman was believed slain and beheaded elsewhere, the police said. No belongings were found nearby.

The joint squad is trying to determine where Hiraoka went after work and checking out her contacts, the sources said.