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Osaka woman accused of dismembering corpse bought saw

Terumi Morishima
Terumi Morishima

OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have confirmed that a 29-year-old woman accused of cutting up a corpse and scattering the pieces had purchased equipment around the time the crime is believed to have occurred, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 31).

On Wednesday, investigative sources revealed that Terumi Morishima, an illustrator, had purchased a freezer, a saw, polyethylene bags and a bucket at a hardware store in Kadoma City on December 25.

Four days later, police searched the room of Morishima and found a skull and backbone in a bathroom of her apartment, located in the same city. Pieces of flesh packed inside plastic bags were also discovered inside a freezer.

Police found more body parts inside a closet of a unit of a shared-living facility located approximately 300 meters from the apartment.

Police believe the remains are those of a 25-year-old female part-time worker, who is an acquaintance of Morishima. Between August and the end of November, Morishima lived with the woman at the shared-living facility.

A Christmas party was planned to be held at the suspect’s residence on December 24. However, it was cancelled once it was learned that the presumed victim was missing.

The following day, the father of the woman told police that he had been unable to reach her daughter since the day before. Police then found that approximately 100,000 yen had been taken from her bank account.

Morishima, who has been charged with destruction and abandoning a corpse, has declined to comment on the charges, telling police she had nothing to say about the incident.

The results of an autopsy conducted on the remains revealed that the victim likely died due to suffocation. Police are now working to confirm the identity of the remains.