Updated February 27, 2018 18:56:07

Photo: Journalists gather near the site where a body part believed to be of a missing woman was found in Osaka. (AP: Kyodo News/Yuki Sato)

Japanese police say they have found parts of a dismembered body believed to be of a missing woman in the mountains of western Japan, in a murder case reportedly linked to an American tourist.

Working on a tip, police last week arrested 26-year-old New Yorker Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar on suspicion of confining the woman, who had been reportedly missing since February 16, media said.

Police refused to confirm he had been arrested.

They later found what appeared to be the woman's head inside a suitcase at a flat Mr Bayraktar had booked in Osaka through a private holiday rental site, local media said.

After initially refusing to answer questions, the suspect reportedly told police on Sunday he had abandoned the woman's body, leading them to the other body parts — her torso, legs, and arms — dumped in three separate wooded areas in Osaka and Kyoto.

The local media identified the woman as a 27-year-old company employee from Sanda city, in neighbouring Hyogo prefecture.

Before going missing, she had told a friend she had planned to meet a man she had become acquainted with through a social networking app, media said.

Security camera footage showed the woman and a man believed to be Mr Bayraktar meeting in Osaka around midnight on February 15 and entering a flat together.

Separate footage also showed the man leaving the building alone multiple times carrying a large bag, according to local media.

An examination of the body parts is being conducted to identify the victim, police said.

AP/Reuters

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, japan, asia

First posted February 27, 2018 18:41:54