OSAKA (TR) – Police here conducting a search earlier this year of a 32-year-old woman’s residence on suspicion of illegal drug use found the body of a stillborn baby hidden inside her refrigerator, reports the Asahi Shimbun (May 11).
The discovery was made on April 9 when officers from the Osaka Prefectural Police were searching the woman’s apartment in Hirano Ward over suspected illegal kakuseizai (methamphetamine) drug use. During the raid, an officer opened the freezer and found the infant’s remains.
According to the Hirano Police Station, the suspect is accused of abandoning the body of a stillborn baby girl in late August 2022. The infant had been wrapped in a T-shirt and placed inside a zip-up plastic bag before being stored in the freezer.
Written on the outside of the plastic bag were the words: “I’m sorry, I love you so much.”
Upon her arrest on May 11 on suspicion of abandoning a corpse, the woman admitted to the allegations, telling investigators, “There is no mistake.”
Prior to her formal arrest, she explained to police why she did not report the stillbirth to authorities. “I wanted to be with this child forever,” she said, also admitting that she was the one who wrote the message on the bag.
A subsequent autopsy revealed the baby girl weighed just 315 grams.
Police are continuing their investigation into the case, which includes examining the woman’s mental competence and criminal liability at the time of the incident.
AloJapan.com