TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 57-year-old woman after the discovery of the corpse of her mother at their residence in Setagaya Ward earlier this month, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (June 19).
According to the Tamagawa Police Station, the woman, of no known occupation, lived with the body of her mother, 83, at their residence between the middle of March and June 11, the day of her arrest on suspicion of abandoning a corpse.
The woman, who was not named, admits to the allegations. The suspect told police, “My mother told me, ‘Don’t tell anyone if I die.'”
The results of an autopsy revealed that the woman died about 3 months before the discovery. It is believed she died due to natural causes, police said.
The discovery of the body of the suspect’s mother was made by a staff member of the ward office who received a tip from a delivery person of bento boxed meals, who regularly visits the residence. The staff member then found the body in a bedroom.