Following the discovery of several body parts belonging to a woman on beaches since late last month, Chiba Prefectural Police have announced that a foot was found floating at sea in the same general area on Monday, reports NHK.
At just past 5:00 p.m., a fisherman tipped off police about “a portion of a person floating” at Katagai Harbor in the town of Kujukuri. Officers arriving at the scene found the body part floating near the wharf.
The foot is the fourth body part to be found in the area since late September. On October 2, a male surfer tipped off police about the discovery of what was later revealed to be the head of a woman on a beach in Kujukuri. About seven hours later, a fisherman reported the discovery of an ankle on a beach in the town of Shirako.
Three days later, police revealed that the results of a DNA analysis proved that the head and ankle belong to the torso of a woman found floating at the mouth of a river by a fisherman in Oamishirasato City on September 29. Police plan to conduct a similar analysis on the foot.
Police have also released a drawing showing an artist’s rendering of the face of the woman in an effort to obtain the help of the public in identifying her. In the drawing, she is shown with short hair.
The woman is believed to be aged in her 50s to 70s. Standing about 170 centimeters tall, she had four teeth implants and a tumor in her neck, police said.
The river mouth is located around 6 kilometers north of the beach in Kujukuri where the head was found. Meanwhile, the beach where the ankle was discovered is about 1.2 kilometers south. As well, the location of Katagai Harbor is about 8 kilometers north of the river mouth, police said.
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