SHIZUOKA (TR) – Shizuoka Prefectural Police have arrested a 61-year-old woman after a corpse likely belonging to her husband was found in her residence in Hamamatsu City, reports TV Asahi (Oct. 30).
On Saturday morning, officers investigating Yumiko Igarashi in a shoplifting case noticed an offensive smell in her residence, located in Hamakita Ward. A search of the premises revealed a decayed corpse beneath a cover in the bathtub.
According to police, the person has likely been dead for several months.
Igarashi, who has been charged with abandoning a corpse, says that the body is that of her husband, aged in his 60s, who also lives in the residence. “Around June, I found that he died and left his body as is,” she is quoted by the Hamakita Police Station, according to Sports Nippon (Oct. 30).
The day before the discovery of the body, officers arrested Igarashi for stealing from a supermarket.
Police are now working to confirm the identity of the body.