Japan police search for suspect after headless body found in Hokkaido hotel

Jul 04, 2023 | News On Japan

SAPPORO - Japanese police are looking for a person linked to the discovery of a headless male body in a love hotel in northern prefecture Hokkaido’s capital Sapporo.

An employee of Hotel Let’s in the city’s Susukino entertainment district alerted emergency services after finding the unclothed body in the bathroom of a second-floor room at around 3.15pm on Sunday, Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi reported.

The employee was checking on the guest, as he had not checked out.

First responders determined the victim to have been decapitated by a knife, and his head was missing. No personal belongings that could identify him were found.

An autopsy attributed the cause of death to haemorrhagic shock from heavy blood loss, with multiple fatal injuries inflicted on his body. Investigators said the man was likely to have been killed before he was beheaded.

He was estimated to be around 160-170cm tall and above 45 years old because of a smallpox vaccination scar on his arm. Smallpox vaccination in Japan was largely discontinued in 1976, according to medical journals, although it was approved by domestic regulators as protection against mpox in 2022.

He also has a surgical scar for appendicitis on his right abdomen. ...continue reading

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