Japanese police have arrested a 75-year-old woman, Keiko Mori, after uncovering the body of her daughter, which she allegedly concealed in a freezer for two decades.
The discovery was made at Mori’s residence in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, where officers found the remains of an adult woman inside a deep freezer.
Police said the body, dressed in a T-shirt and underwear, was placed face-down in the freezer.
Mori reportedly told investigators that the remains belonged to her daughter, Makiko, who was born in 1975 and would have been about 49 or 50 years old if alive.
She allegedly explained that she stored the body to suppress the smell after her daughter’s death.
Officers confirmed the remains showed signs of advanced decomposition, adding that an autopsy has been ordered to ascertain the cause of death.
Mori, who recently lost her husband and now lives alone, went to the police with a relative to report the matter. She was arrested on suspicion of abandoning a body, though authorities have yet to confirm how many children she had or if others in the family were aware of the incident.