Press "Enter" to skip to content

Niigata cops believe corpse found buried at home that of missing man

NIIGATA (TR) – Niigata Prefectural Police on Monday found a body buried on a vacant property in the town of Seiro that is believed to be that of a man who went missing earlier this year, reports NHK (Dec. 18).

Police believe the body is that of a man in his 70s from Niigata City who has been missing since October. Police are continuing the investigation on suspicion of abandoning a corpse.

In addition to seeking to confirm the identity of the body, police will also conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

According to the police, the man, aged in his 70s and living alone in neighboring Niigata City, was found to have newspapers piling up at his home on October 16. Five days later, a relative filed a missing persons report.

After that, police learned that his body was likely to have been abandoned on the grounds of the vacant house. On Monday, they searched for the body and found it buried on the property.

Given the state of the corpse, police believed that he had been dead for some time, police said.