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Woman accused of suffocating 7-month-old daughter last year

GUNMA (TR) – Gunma Prefectural Police have arrested a 31-year-old woman over the alleged murder of a her 7-month-old daughter last year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (April 26).

On the morning of April 23, 2020, Runa Tanaka, of no known occupation, allegedly blocked the nose and mouth of Kiyoka Furuta in suffocating her at their then residence in Ota City.

Upon her arrest on Monday, Tanaka admitted to the allegations, police said.

On the day of the incident, a staff member at a hospital in Ota City contacted the Ota Police Station after Kiyoka arrived by ambulance.

Runa Tanaka (Twitter)

Tanaka later told an officer who visited her home, “I found my daughter unconscious and called emergency services.”

However, she appeared at the police station with her then husband the next day and admitted to the crime. “I touched my daughter. I blocked her nose and mouth,” she said.

At some point after the incident, Tanaka and her husband divorced. She now lives in Niigata Prefecture.