Police transfer Chilean man for France extradition

A Chilean man accused of murdering a Japanese student in France was taken to Santiago's airport Wednesday night to be turned over to French authorities for a flight to Paris.

Nicolas Zepeda, 29, had been under house arrest at his mother’s apartment in the resort of Viña del Mar, 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest of Santiago, since the Chilean Supreme Court approved his extradition in May.

He is charged in France with premeditated murder in the alleged 2016 slaying of Narumi Kurosaki, 21, whose body was never found.

Judge Jorge Dahm Oyarzún, who presided over the proceedings against Zepeda, said in an email to The Associated Press that he had lifted the house arrest order and instructed police to allow Intepol officers to transfer the defendant to the airport.

Zepeda was to be turned over to French officials Thursday on a plane bound for Paris.

Kurosaki disappeared in the early hours of Dec. 5, 2016, from her apartment in France. Zepeda returned to Chile before her disappearance was investigated.

During court proceedings in Chile, Zepeda acknowledged that he had visited Kurosaki at her apartment on the night she disappeared, even though their romantic relationship had ended.

He said they had consensual sex.