HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police last week arrested a 60-year-old man for abandoning a body likely that of his mother in an apartment in Kobe City, reports the Kobe Shimbun (June 26).
At just before 11:00 a.m. on June 26, officers from the Nada Police Station working off a tip found the decomposed body in the toilet of the residence in Nada Ward.
Police then arrested the man on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. He said, “About 10 years ago, my mother was found inside the toilet, not breathing, and had turned cold. I knew she had died.”
According to police, an employee of the Nada Ward Office found the man walking with a limp on May 22. The employee then asked him about his mother. However, he refused to say anything, which raised suspicions. The employee reported the matter to the police on June 23.
After receiving the report, police officers entered the residence and made the discovery amid piles of garbage.
The suspect had a key to the front door of the residence. He said, “I have a social phobia where it’s difficult to communicate with people. I was unable to report it.”
Police are now working to confirm the identity of the body and the cause of death.
