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Supermarket shoplifting case leads police to corpse in Yokohama residence

KANAGAWA (TR) – A body was found inside the residence of a 69-year-old woman in Yokohama City after she was accused of shoplifting, police have revealed, reports the Sankei Shimbun (April 19).

On Sunday, police entered the residence of Mariko Hatano, located in the Hongocho area of Naka Ward, and found the corpse.

According to the Yamate Police Station, the body is believed to be that of the suspect’s sister 78-year-old Hiromi. They began living together about 10 years ago.

Upon her arrest on suspicion of abandoning a corpse on Monday, Hatano, of no known occupation, admitted to the allegations. “I didn’t want to leave my sister alone,” she told police.

“I live with my dead sister”

Earlier on Sunday, police took Hatano in for voluntary questioning over theft from a supermarket in the same ward. “I live with my dead sister,” she reportedly told officers. Police then visited the residence.

The case is not a first. Last year, a suspected shoplifter led police to a body in Tama City, Tokyo. Four years before that, police in Shizuoka Prefecture found a body inside the residence of a suspected shoplifter after noticing an offensive smell.