Japanese boy brings severed head of his mother to police station

May 15, 2007

A boy from Aizuwakamatsu, Japan a town just north of Tokyo, walked into the local police station with a sports bag which police say contained the severed head of his mother.

"If it's true, then it is horrendous," said Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the head spokesman for the Japanese government.

Police say the 17-year-old boy told them that he killed his mother Monday night, and that he acted alone. Police later found the mother's remains inside the boy's apartment. Police say that an object much like a knife was used to sever her head.

There have been a series of murders involving the dismemberment of body parts in Japan in the past few months. A leg severed from an unknown body was found in Tokyo inside a trash bin on Monday. A woman, 32, was arrested in January when she admitted to murdering her husband, dismembering his body, then placed his remains around several spots in Tokyo.