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Kumamoto: Woman’s corpse found in gutter identified as university researcher

KUMAMOTO (TR) – The corpse of a woman found in a gutter in Kumamoto City earlier this week is that of a 35-year-old researcher, police said, reports NHK (Sept. 9).

According to police, Chisato Narahara worked at Kumamoto University’s Joint Research Center for Human Retrovirus Infection.

At around 8:30 a.m. on Monday, her body was found lying face-up in a two-meter-wide gutter on the side of a road in Chuo Ward.

According to the Kumamoto-Minami Police Station, the results of an autopsy showed that she died from suffocation due to strangulation around the neck.

Chisato Narahara (Twitter)

AIDS researcher

Before identifying the body, police on Tuesday released two portrait sketches in hopes of receiving help from the public. Narahara’s mother then contacted police after noticing that the sketches “resembled” her daughter.

According to the university, Narahara began working as an AIDS researcher at the center in April. She was last seen at work at around 5:00 p.m. on September 6, the day before her body was found.

Narahara lived alone. No personal items, such as her house key or mobile telephone, were found with her body.

The investigation is continuing on suspicion of murder.