Police in Japan have arrested a 75-year-old woman, Keiko Mori, who allegedly confessed to storing the body of her daughter in a freezer for nearly two decades.
Authorities in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, discovered the remains of an adult woman inside a deep freezer at Mori’s home on Tuesday, a police spokesman confirmed.
Mori reportedly told investigators that the body belonged to her daughter, Makiko, born in 1975, who would have been 49 or 50 years old if alive. Police said the remains were significantly decomposed and have ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
According to investigators, Mori voluntarily approached police with a relative to reveal that she had kept the body hidden. Officers who later visited her residence found the corpse dressed in a T-shirt and underwear, positioned face-down inside the freezer.
The elderly woman was taken into custody on suspicion of abandoning a body. She allegedly told police that she purchased the freezer years ago after noticing a foul smell in the house and decided to store her daughter’s remains in it.
Police added that Mori, who had several children, had been living alone since the death of her husband earlier this month. Details on what her other children knew about Makiko’s fate were not disclosed.
