Kidnapper sent text mail, photo of child to mother's phone.

HEGURI, Nara Prefecture--The body of a 7-year-old girl was found here Thursday, hours after the kidnapper sent the girl's mother a text message from the victim's own cellphone saying, ``I've got your daughter.''

The dead child was identified as Kaede Ariyama, a first-year student of Tomio-Kita Elementary School in nearby Nara city. She was the older of two daughters of Eri Ariyama, 28, and her husband, Shigeki Ariyama, 30, a company employee.

Schoolmates told police they saw the victim talking to a man in a car near her house on Wednesday, and that she left in the car with him. There was no ransom demand, police said.

The body was found by a 64-year-old motorist at 12:06 a.m. on Thursday. The body was found lying face-down, partially in a roadside ditch, 6 kilometers from her house. Surrounded by rice fields, the location lies about 500 meters southeast of Higashiyama Station on Kintetsu Corp.'s Ikoma Line.

The girl was wearing the same red sweatshirt and denim skirt she had been wearing on her way home from school. However, her jacket, shoes, backpack and cellphone had not been found as of Thursday evening, police said.

According to police, Kaede left school soon after classes finished at 1 p.m., and began to walk home, about 1 kilometer away.

Around 1:40 p.m., her mother called Kaede's cellphone. Kaede told her mother she was going home to get her bicycle and would meet her back at the school, where a group of moms was scheduled to practice volleyball at 2:30 p.m

When Kaede didn't arrive, her mother called repeatedly but there was no reply. The mother went home and started searching for her daughter.

Neighbors soon joined the search. At 6:45 p.m., the mother reported Kaede missing to the Nara-Nishi Police Station.

Then, at 8:04 p.m., the text message came to the mother's cellphone from Kaede's cellphone. The message read, ``I've got your daughter.'' A photo of the girl was attached.

Residents in the area had been on alert because of reports of a suspicious man talking to children.

The school had also urged its students to walk on streets where there were lots of people.

The Ariyama family moved to their current house in the Gakuen-Daiwacho district of Nara city about five or six years ago. The house is located in a residential area where a number of houses or apartment buildings are being constructed.

According to neighbors, Kaede was a cheerful girl who was not afraid of strangers.

On Thursday morning, the elementary school asked all parents to come to school immediately with their kids; both then attended meetings.

Meeting separately with the parents and the children in the gymnasium, school principal Katsuya Umeda explained what had happened. The atmosphere in the gym was somber, parents said.

Afterward, the principal told reporters he regretted the tragedy had happened.

Asked whether Kaede had walked to her house alone or with friends, he said, ``I hear that she had returned home alone.''(IHT/Asahi: November 19,2004)