HOKKAIDO (TR) – Hokkaido Prefectural Police have launched a murder investigation following the discovery of he body of an elderly woman inside her residence in Sapporo, reports TBS News (Nov. 10).
At around 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the husband of Ryoko Naya, 78, found her body lying face-down in a room of the residence, located in Higashi Ward.
She was later confirmed dead at a nearby hospital. The results of an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be suffocation.
Naya lives with her husband in the residence. He told police that prior to the discovery he had gone to sleep in another room.
“A level-headed person, she was known for her leadership,” a person living in the same apartment building said of Naya. “It didn’t seem as if people disliked her.”
