Woman arrested over death of infant whose body parts were found in sex shop freezer

TOKYO — Police in Tokyo have arrested a 22-year-old woman who works at an adult entertainment establishment on suspicion of mutilating and abandoning the body of her newborn baby daughter, and leaving the body parts in the freezer of a large refrigerator in the waiting room at the establishment where she worked.

Police said Rei Obara, of no fixed address, told them she gave birth in the office at her workplace in Sumida Ward in March, TBS reported. She said the baby wasn’t moving or crying and that she fainted.

Police quoted Obara as saying, “When I woke up, the baby was discolored. I couldn't leave it like that, so I decided to cut it into pieces."

She said that she dismembered the baby with a box cutter knife in her hotel room a few days later, and put the body parts in the freezer because "I wanted to keep it close.”

Obara continued to work at the sex shop.

The incident came to light on Dec 6 when a male employee found the body parts while cleaning the refrigerator. The arms and legs were placed in food storage containers, and the head in a plastic bag.

Police said Obara’s fingerprints were on the plastic bag.

Regarding the undiscovered torso, Obara said, "I threw it in the trash can in the waiting room."

© Japan Today/NTV