FUKUOKA (TR) – Fukuoka Prefectural Police revealed on Tuesday that a DNA analysis was used to confirm that a dismembered corpse found in a river in Kitakyushu City last year belongs to a 29-year-old woman, reports NHK (Jan. 30).
In September, a local resident tipped off police about “what appears to be a human skull” in the Yoshida River near a residential area in Kokuraminami Ward.
Police arriving at the scene examined the skull before initiating a search in the immediate area. They later found several other bones in bushes several meters away. An examination of the bones revealed that they had been cut, police said at the time.
In the latest development, police revealed that the results of a DNA analysis confirmed that the body belongs to Harumi Tonoike, a resident of the town of Soeda.
The residence of Tonoike, who lived alone, is approximately 30 kilometers away from where her body was discovered. A missing persons report was not filed on her. As well, her residence was found to have not been ransacked, police said.
The case is being treated as abandoning a corpse.
