Japanese Woman Arrested for Keeping Daughter’s Body in Freezer for 20 Years

TOKYO, Japan — Japanese police have arrested a 75-year-old woman who allegedly admitted to storing the body of her daughter in a freezer for nearly two decades.

Authorities in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, confirmed on Thursday that the suspect, identified as Keiko Mori, reported the matter to police earlier this week. Investigators said they found the body of an adult woman inside a deep freezer at her home on Tuesday.

According to a police spokesman, Mori claimed the body belonged to her daughter, Makiko, born in 1975, who would have been around 49 or 50 years old today if alive.

“When investigators arrived at the home, they found the body dressed in a T-shirt and underwear, kneeling face-down inside the freezer,” the spokesman revealed, adding that an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

Mori allegedly told police she had purchased the freezer after a foul odor began filling the house, then placed her daughter’s body inside.

She was taken into custody on suspicion of abandoning a body, a charge often applied in Japan when authorities cannot immediately confirm a cause of death.

Police confirmed that Mori had several children, but declined to disclose further details. She had reportedly been living alone since the death of her husband earlier this month.

Investigations into the circumstances surrounding Makiko’s death and why the body was kept hidden for so long are ongoing.

VANGUARD//AFP