Photo/Illutration Investigators gather outside the house where a 90-year-old woman was found dead in Komae, western Tokyo, on Jan. 19. (Minami Endo)

A 90-year-old woman whose face was bleeding and whose hands were bound was found dead at her house in Komae, western Tokyo, on Jan. 19 in what investigators suspect was a murder-robbery.

Police said rooms inside the house, which has two above-ground floors and a basement, were ransacked. The body of Kinuyo Oshio was found in a corridor of the basement floor.

Security camera footage captured several people believed to be suspects in the area of the house, investigative sources said.

Around 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 19, Chiba prefectural police, apparently acting on inside information, contacted the Chofu Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department and said the Oshio family might be the target of robbers, investigators said.

Police officers visited the house to confirm the family’s safety around 5:10 p.m. The home was unlocked when they arrived.

Oshio’s son and his wife, as well as two grandchildren, also live in the house. But they were outside the home at the time of the incident, police said.

The house is located in a residential area about 1.6 kilometers southeast of Komae Station on the Odakyu Line.

A man in his 50s who lives nearby said, “I was surprised that such an incident occurred in my neighborhood.”

He said two or three luxury cars were always parked at Oshio’s house, which has a roof terrace.

“I thought there were a lot of people coming and going,” he said.

Since the beginning of January, a series of robberies have been committed in Chiba Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture and other areas of the Kanto region.

The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating whether the crime in Komae is related to the earlier robberies.

Related News