HOKKAIDO (TR) – Hokkaido Prefectural Police have arrested a 51-year-old woman after she was found to be living with a corpse likely that of her father in Tomakomai City on Sunday, reports NHK (Sept. 7).
“I could not report my father’s death since I am living off of his pension,” said Hisako Hashimoto upon her arrest on suspicion of abandoning a corpse early Monday.
Hashimoto, of no known occupation, shares the residence, located in the Sumiyoshicho area, with her father, aged in his 70s. On Sunday, a local resident contacted police after the suspect’s father had “not been seen recently.”
Officers arriving at the residence found the clothed body stretched out in a corridor between the entrance and living room.
The body showed no signs of external wounds. Based on the stage of decay, the person had been dead for at least several days, police said.
In addition to confirming the identity of the body, police are seeking the cause of death.