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Ikebukuro man says ‘would be unimaginable’ to live without mother after corpse found in residence

Osamu Utsugi
Tokyo police have accused Osamu Utsugi, 55, of abandoning the body of his mother in the residence they share in Ikebukuro (TBS News)

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 55-year-old man for allegedly abandoning the body of his mother in the residence they share in Toshima Ward, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Aug. 6).

On Sunday, police announced the arrest of Osamu Utsugi, who has been accused of leaving the body of his mother, 90-year-old Miyoko, atop a futon in a bedroom of their apartment, located in the Kami-Ikebukuro area.

“Until now, we had been living together. It would be unimaginable for me to think about living by myself from now,” Utsugi was quoted by police in admitting to the allegations.

On Saturday, a daughter of the woman, aged in her 50s and living in Saitama Prefecture, was alerted by the landlord of the building about an accumulation of mail in the mailbox. After visiting the residence and discovering the partially decayed body of her mother, which was covered by a towel and bed linen, she alerted emergency services, according to TBS News (Aug. 6).

The suspect began living with his mother in 2010 after the death of his father. “My mother had heart ailment, and over the past few months she ate less and less,” he told police. “When I woke up on July 23, she was not breathing.”