Doctor arrested on suspicion of dismembering and abandoning his wife's body Hyogo Prefectural Police

On the 30th, Hyogo Prefectural Police arrested Kenji Shimomura (46), a doctor from Takaza-cho, Nishinomiya City, on suspicion of mutilating and abandoning his wife's body at their home and dumping it in a river. He admitted the charge, saying, ``I did it alone,'' and prefectural police are investigating the possibility that he may have been involved in his wife's murder.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of dismembering the body of his wife, then 41-year-old Mami, with a knife at their home in Amagasaki, the prefecture, where he was living at the time, between August 14 and late August last year, and dumping it in a river in the city.

According to prefectural police, Shimomura filed a missing person report at a police station in the prefecture in September last year, saying, ``I had an argument with my wife last month and have not been able to contact her since.'' Afterwards, he stated, ``I dissected my wife's body in the bathroom and threw the bones into a river in Amagasaki City.'' In September, prefectural police searched a river in the city based on the victim's statement and found multiple bones, which were identified through forensic examination as Mami's bones. The cause of death and estimated time of death are unknown.