TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police are expected to open a murder case after it was learned that an infant’s corpse found earlier in a coin-operated locker in Shinjuku Ward earlier this week showed signs of strangulation, reports the Asahi Shimbun (May 31).
On Tuesday, a fee-collection employee found the body of the girl inside one of the lockers in a series in the Kabukicho red-light district, located about 500 meters from JR Shinjuku Station.
The results of an autopsy, announced on Thursday, revealed that pressure had been applied to the neck of the infant, leading police to suspect that she was murdered.
According to police, the unclothed body of the infant was inside a series of plastic bags that had been placed in a suitcase. The body, with umbilical cord still attached, measured 47 centimeters long and weighed 1.79 kilograms. A towel was around its neck.
Based on usage of the locker, police suspect the baby was abandoned at least one week before the discovery. The lockers in the series front a major street, which allows for them to be used by anyone, police said.
