KUMAMOTO (TR) – Kumamoto Prefectural Police are seeking the help of the public in identifying a woman’s corpse found in Kumamoto City on Monday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 8).
At around 8:30 a.m., a man in his 60s living in the Honjo area of Chuo Ward found the corpse lying face-up in a two-meter-wide gutter on the side of a road.
According to the Kumamoto-Minami Police Station, an examination of the body showed no signs of external wounds.
However, the results of an autopsy showed that she died from suffocation due to strangulation around the neck. She is believed to have died on September 5 or 6.
In assisting in her identification, police on Tuesday released two portrait sketches, one showing her with long hair below her shoulders and the other with her locks tied behind her head.
Believed to be in her 30s or 40s, the woman stood about 170 centimeters tall and weighed around 60 kilograms.
She was wearing a gray sweater, a light blue shirt and black pants. No personal belongings, such as a mobile telephone or wallet, have been found.
Police are treating the case as murder and abandoning a corpse.