American tourist strangles Tinder date, dismembers her body & scatters remains in mountains — but gets away with manslaughter charge

A New York man was sentenced to eight years in a Japanese prison for killing and beheading a woman he met through a dating app and concealing her remains all around the country.

Per the Tokyo Reporter, Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, 27, was sent to prison Tuesday after confessing to strangling Saki Kondo, 27, at a rented Osaka apartment in February 2017. The Long Island man also admitted to dismembering her body and dumping her remains in mountainous regions in Osaka and Kyoto.

Bayraktar had arrived in Japan in January 2017 and was reportedly on a 90-day tourist visa at the time of the slaying. On February 24, police found Kondo’s head inside a suitcase at a home in Bayraktar’s apartment—and the suspect eventually lead them to her arms and torso in Osaka and to Kyoto, where he had previously dumped her legs, according to the New York Post.

According to the Daily Mail, local reports indicated that the pair met on dating app, either Tinder or Matchapp.

According to the Tokyo Reporter, Bayraktar was only convicted of manslaughter and abandoning a corpse as prosecutors couldn’t prove he intentionally killed Kondo. Prosecutors argued for a 13-year term while the defense sought a five-year sentence, arguing that their client felt guilt and led officers to Kondo’s remains.

Prosecutors alleged he deleted the dating app to conceal his connection to Kondo, purchased a saw to dismember her body, and had searched “how to dismember a body” on his cell phone.

“I will be burdened with this crime until the day I die,” Bayraktar said in court. “I am so sorry.”

 

[Featured image: Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar/Handout; Saki Kondo/Twitter]