Japanese musician strangled during Trinidad’s Carnival

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – A Japanese musician who flew to Trinidad to participate in a well-known steel percussion competition was strangled to death during the island’s annual Carnival celebration, authorities said Friday.

An autopsy concluded that Asami Nagakiya, whose body was found Wednesday in a Port-of-Spain park, had been manually strangled. No arrests have been made, and authorities said they were working to determine whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Japanese Embassy spokesman Shoichi Ueda said in a phone interview Friday that Nagakiya was in her 30s and her family lives in Japan. He said it’s unclear whether her family would come to Trinidad, or if her body would be sent back to Japan.

Police said in a statement that they searched an abandoned house close to where Nagakiya was found after witnesses said they saw her going in and out of the building. She was last seen with her band on Tuesday around noon, officials said.

Nagakiya flew to Trinidad on Jan. 7 to play with the PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars, a 120-person steel drum orchestra. The band was playing in the Panorama steel pan competition, which is held every February during Trinidad’s Carnival.

Officials said Nagakiya joined the band in 2012.

“Her talent and hard work made her the excellent tenor player that she was,” the group said in a statement. “Asami would also be remembered for her generosity with craft and jewelry making and the Japanese treats that she always brought back for everyone when she returned to Trinidad.”

Nagakiya also was a pannist for a Japanese band called OTSK.

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Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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