Two Americans were arrested in Japan in connection with the murder of a female Irish exchange student’s murder. The young woman was found strangled to death in her hotel after a Nicki Minaj concert …so sad. Click below for the full story.
Two American men have reportedly been arrested in Tokyo in connection with the death of a female Irish exchange student, who was found dead in a hotel room early Thursday after attending a Nicki Minaj concert.
Japanese media reported that Nicola Furlong, 21, of County Wexford, Ireland, was discovered strangled at the Keio Plaza Hotel in central Tokyo at around 3:20 a.m.
One of the suspects, a 19-year-old musician, was alone in the room with Furlong when hotel staffers responded to complaints about loud noise found her, The Japan Times reported.
Furlong and a 21-year-old friend had met the musician and his 23-year-old friend, a dancer, after the show in the city’s Koto Ward, the newspaper said.
The men invited the Irish women back to their hotel room, and the group hopped in a cab, where one of the men was reported to have groped Furlong’s friend.
After arriving at the hotel, the four paired off, with Furlong going into one room with the 19-year-old and the other two going to another room, Agence France-Presse reported.
Hotel staffers later found Furlong on the floor near the bed, while the man was standing nearby. There were no signs that anyone else had entered the room.
She was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.
Furlong was in her third year studying international business and language at Dublin City University.
She was participating in a year-long study abroad program at Takasaki City University of Economics in Gunma Prefecture, about an hour from Tokyo, and was to return home to Ireland sometime this summer.
She and her friend arrived in Tokyo for the concert on Wednesday afternoon, according to The Japan Times.
It wasn’t clear if the two Americans were connected to Minaj’s entourage.
The results of an autopsy were expected to be released this week.
Furlong’s family was well known for running a bar in Curracloe, County Wexford, in Ireland’s southeast.
The Irish Independent newspaper said the pub has ties to horse racing, as well as the Shelmaliers Ladies Football Club, where Nicola played camogie, a stick-and-ball game that is similar to the Irish sport of hurling.
“We are devastated for Nicola’s family who have just lost a loved one in the prime of her life,” a club member told the newspaper. “She was a lovely young girl who had a full life ahead of her.”
