Nov 12, 2017 (Japan Times) - A police probe into the attempted murder of an elderly bedridden woman has reportedly led to an unlikely suspect: a stray cat.
Mayuko Matsumoto's daughter found her bleeding profusely from about 20 face cuts Monday at her home in the town of Mifune, Kumamoto Prefecture, and called the police, which treated the incident as a case of attempted murder after viewing the wounds, some of which were relatively severe, local broadcaster RKK said.
"When we found her, blood covered everything above her chin. Her face was soaked in blood. I didn't know what had happened," Matsumoto's daughter told RKK.
Matsumoto, who is 82 and reportedly unable to speak, had to receive emergency care, Kyodo News said.
Investigators found no sign of people entering or leaving the house at the time of the suspected attack, private network NTV said.
They then realized that Matsumoto's wounds looked like cat scratches, it added.
Police turned their attention to the stray cats loitering around Matsumoto's house, and found traces of what may be human blood on one of them, the daily Nishinippon Shimbun reported Friday.
