Former player in Singapore party scene arrested in Japan for murder
A former player in the Singapore entertainment scene has been arrested for murder in Japan.
American Gregory Gumo, 41, who now lives in Yokohama, Japan, was arrested by police last month for the murder of a 42-year-old Japanese woman, Ms Mariko Akitaya, reported The Japan Times.
The body of Ms Akitaya was found wrapped in a brown plastic sheet in a bay near Miura City, about 85km away from Tokyo, on July 29, reported the Tokyo Reporter.
A concrete block was attached to the body with a rope.
From CCTV footage, it was discovered that Ms Akitaya was last seen travelling with Gumo in a vehicle on July 27.
Japanese police arrested Cumo, a married father of three children, on Aug 6 for dumping Ms Akitaya's body.
At first, he denied that he had anything to do with Ms Akitaya's death, reported Tokyo Times.
He later admitted that he dumped the body but had nothing to do with her death.
Instead Tokyo Reporter reported that the Police said that he claims that she had committed suicide.
The Police said that the autopsy revealed that Ms Akitaya had a large amount of sleeping pills in her blood and that a large amount of water was found in her lungs, suggesting that she was alive when she was dumped into the water.
The exact nature of their relationships is unknown but Japanese media are reporting that the pair met through a dating website.
Singapore link
Gumo was first mentioned in the Singaporean media in September 2009, when The Straits Times reported him to be the man who was leading Fuel, a promoter that was new to the Singapore entertainment scene at that time.
His company became infamous in September 2013 due to the abrupt cancellation of the 1 World Music Festival, which was supposed to be held at the Marina Barrage.
Promotion video for 1 World Music Festival on YouTube.
Big names such as rapper Snoop Dogg, Iggy Azalea and electronic artist Moby were among the acts slated to perform.
The New Paper's report on the event's cancellation on Sept 20, 2013.
But just two days before the festival was supposed to be held, the company organising the festival, Retfar Entertainment, announced on their website that the festival was cancelled.
The New Paper reported then that the cancellation was so abrupt that some of the artists lined up were already in Singapore.
At that point in time, social media was filled with rumours that the organiser was unable to pay the artists.
Gumo, then the managing director of the company, denied this.
Later, The Straits Times reported that Gumo admitted that one of the reasons for the cancellation was because of poor ticket sales.
In October 2013, it was reported that Retfair Entertainment had started to refund those who had purchase tickets, although it is unknown if the refund process was completed.
Then Gumo disappeared from the Singaporean scene.
A check on his LinkedIn profile stated that after taking a break with his family, he was "looking for something interesting to do."
His time with Retfair Entertainment was not mentioned in his profile.
In its place was a mention that he was involved in a company called Pixel Digital Pte Ltd from January 2011 to December 2013.
His movements from 2013 onwards were unknown until his recent arrest for murder in Japan
Japanese media reported that police believe that based on text messages between Ms Akitaya and a friend, she had lent money to Gumo.
Source: Japan Times, Tokyo Reporter, The Straits Times
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