KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a 37-year-old woman for allegedly leaving the corpse of a newborn boy at a railway station in Kamakura City, reports Kyodo News (June 4).
On Wednesday, police accused Shoko Ito, of no known occupation, of abandoning a corpse. She admits to the allegations, police said.
On June 4, a security guard for the building housing JR Ofuna Station visited a koban police box to report the discovery of the body inside a coin-operated locker.
Officers arriving at the scene found the body of the boy wrapped in a towel inside the locker.
Police allege that Ito left the body in the locker sometime between July 30, 2020 and June 4. The fee to use the locker was paid over that period.
Police had already accused Ito of theft in another case. Based on security camera footage, she surfaced as a person of interest in the abandonment case.
The boy died at least several months before the discovery. The cause of death is not known.
Police are continuing the investigation, including into whether Ito gave birth to the boy.
