Woman arrested for hiding body of dead baby in Nagano home

Monday 19th October, 02:00 PM JST

NAGANO —

A 38-year-old woman was arrested on Sunday for illegal disposal of a corpse, after police found the body of an infant in a cardboard box in the living room of her home.

Junko Ishikawa, manager of a small bar in Okaya City, is accused of wrapping the dead infant’s body in cloth and putting it in a cardboard box in September last year. A male acquaintance noticed a foul odor in the room last week and notified police, and they discovered the body when they visited her home on Oct 17. Ishikawa has confirmed the baby was hers, police said.

Wire reports

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Latest 15 of 21 Total Comments Show All

kokorocloud at 02:50 PM JST - 19th October

Oh, and the poor baby part was more because it died so young, not so much how it was found. I hope the way it died is less disturbing.
Junnama at 02:53 PM JST - 19th October

When a baby dies a whole life unlived is lost...
Yelnats at 04:01 PM JST - 19th October

I cannot believe it was still there. Should have rotted away by then. Why didn't the woman smell it?
ratpack at 04:14 PM JST - 19th October

Ummm...hang on a sec!! The baby has been there since September "last year"......And someone noticed the smell last week.......Why hadn't her neighbours noticed that smell long before last week????
hanadecaka at 04:54 PM JST - 19th October

Higher officail has lot of money for dining and wining she does not have any money for funeral of her baby what to do? Society is crazy for money only.
gogogo at 05:14 PM JST - 19th October

ewww smelly house... why do people do this?
SebastianFlyte at 05:20 PM JST - 19th October

There are some real sickos out there!
Antonios_M at 05:36 PM JST - 19th October

Oh, God...you must be very sick to do something like that.

Ehm....the infant was dead since last September and they found out now??? Gross....
Monoflow at 05:59 PM JST - 19th October

She wrapped the baby in clothes before putting in a cardboard box and kept it at home. Hmmm, at least she felt something for her child. In a way...
biglittleman at 07:36 PM JST - 19th October

I remember a few years back about another woman in her late 40s or early 50s who did the same thing. They found the mummified remains of like five different infants in her closet. They said she wrapped them quite well to hide the smell. One of them was like a decade old. I can't remember how the cops found out about it. I believe it was because she committed suicide or something and they had to search the place. She also worked in the bar/hostess profession.
BurakuminDes at 07:43 PM JST - 19th October

RIP to the baby, no matter how she died. "Disposing of a Corpse" seems to be a growing problem in Japan, maybe some folks need to be educated in the proper manners of dealing with dead people ie funeral/burial/cremation. A couple of days ago I read that a few high school girls disposed of a corpse by putting it in a barrel, and last week a gang was charged got disposal of a corpse in a river after hacking it to bits.
bobbafett at 07:56 PM JST - 19th October

a corpse

so then no need to say "poor baby". Maybe the child died of natural causes and the mother could not let the child go out of love.

"poor baby" makes it sound like the child was harmed. lets see what the fuzz say in a few days.
Cliffy at 01:17 AM JST - 20th October

September last year and it did not smell until last week?
KitsuneYoukai at 02:19 AM JST - 20th October

Since last September; Disturbing, sick, and pretty gross if you ask me!!!!
mnemosyne23 at 02:46 AM JST - 20th October

are we sure there wasn't a mistranslation in here somewhere? Are we sure this wasn't "September" rather than "September of last year"? because after a year, the smell should be largely dissipated. So I'm confused.

And yes, poor baby. Regardless of how the child passed away, to be packed away in a cardboard box instead of given a proper burial shows a lack of respect for the deceased. Maybe the woman has a psychological condition that didn't see this behavior as wrong, or perhaps she was utterly bereft after the baby's death and couldn't bear to part with her child; either way, it was inappropriate, unhealthy and disrespectful to the child.