CHIBA (TR) – A woman whose corpse was found dismembered along the coast of the prefecture earlier this year is the mother of a 37-year-old man currently undergoing questioning about the case, police said on Friday, reports NHK (Nov. 16).
According to police, dental records and other information were used to confirm that the body is that of Yoko Yamada, a 75-year-old resident of Yachimata City. On Friday morning, officers began questioning her son, a company employee who lived with her, on suspicion of abandoning and destruction of a corpse. Officers also searched the residence.
As previously reported, a fisherman found the torso of the woman floating at the mouth of a river by a fisherman in Oamishirasato City on September 29.
Three days later, a male surfer tipped off police about the discovery of what was later revealed to be the head of the woman on a beach in the town of Kujukuri. That same day, a fisherman reported finding her right ankle on a beach in the town of Shirako.
On October 8, a fisherman tipped off authorities about the discovery of her right foot floating at Katagai Harbor in the town of Kujukuri.
DNA analyses
Police used DNA analyses to confirm that the all of the remains belong to the same woman. An examination of surveillance camera footage taken along the coast of Kujukuri showed the vehicle of the woman’s son in the area between the night of September 26 and the following morning, investigative sources told the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 16).
The river mouth is located around 6 kilometers north of the beach in Kujukuri where the head was found. Meanwhile, the beach where the ankle was discovered is about 1.2 kilometers south. As well, the location of Katagai Harbor is about 8 kilometers north of the river mouth.
Based on the state of decay of the body, she is believed to have died several days before the discovery, police said previously.
