Chilean Nicolás Zepeda was convicted in France for the femicide of young Narumi Kurosaki

The French justice convicted and sentenced Nicolás Zepeda to 28 years in prison for the murder and disappearance of Japan's Narumi Kurosaki (21), in December 2016. His defense has ten days to file an appeal to the ruling.

“I'm not who I'd like to be, but I'm not a murderer. I am not the murderer of Narumi,” were the words of the accused at the beginning of the trial against him, who found him guilty of the femicide of the Japanese student.

The investigation determined that September 4, 2016 Narumi was studying French in Besançon when she met her former partner, Nicolás Zepeda (31) and they spent 30 hours together: they went to lunch and stayed at the university residence where she lived. That was the last day she was seen alive.

In 2020, Zepeda was extradited from Chile to France to face justice for the Narumi case.

After ten days of hearing, the French Court in Besançon yesterday found Zepeda guilty for the disappearance and murder of Narumi, whose body has not been found to date. Initially, in the trial, the accused was urged to perpetuate imprisonment, who finally received 28 years in prison. In addition, the payment of $218,750 for moral damage to the victim's family.

Fuel purchase, chat conversations and statements

The evidence presented against the accused ranged from the purchase of fuel and cleaning materials, to the request to delete conversations, statements, even from his own family, and the geolocation of his phone that place him where the young woman was on the last day she was seen.

The investigation concluded that the Chilean purchased a five-liter can of fuel, matches and different cleaning elements. At the time of being consulted about these purchases, the defendant assured that he was willing to have spare fuel in the event of an eventuality and that he bought the matches because he liked the box.

In that vein, Zepeda stated that the cleaning material was used for the tapestry of a car he rented and soiled with food, although the car rental service denied the facts and claimed that the vehicle was dirty, with branches and mud at the time of delivery.

In reading the statement of Juan Felipe Ramírez, cousin of the accused, he recalled conversations he had with Zepeda, where he asked what to do if he found someone hanged, ways to die quickly from suffocation, an instance in which he also asked Ramírez not to tell anyone about his trip to Europe. Zepeda denied remembering that conversation.

Despite the evidence, the accused stated: “I never wanted to be in the midst of the pain of Narumi's family. I never wanted to be in the middle of the pain of my poor family, in the midst of my own pain. I'm not who I'd like, but I'm not a murderer. I'm not Narumi's killer.”

Another testimonial statement was that of psychiatrist Juan Caterino, who questioned Zepeda in 2020. The doctor said that the accused has “a tendency to try to manipulate others”, according to Franceinfo.

For prosecutor Étienne Manteaux, the murder hypothesis pointed out that Zepeda killed Narumi by suffocation in his room and threw his remains into the Doubs River and these ended up downstream of the Crissey Dam. The event would have occurred between 3.15 AM and 3.21 AM that day. “This is the most likely scenario,” Manteaux said.

Taeko Kurosaki, Narumi's mother, spoke at the audience and said that “for more than five years I have been psychologically destroyed and have a great distrust of people. I have abandoned all my professional activities. I isolate myself. That is why I have lost the ease of speech.”

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