Gunma Prefectural Police launched a murder case after the female manager of a love hotel in Maebashi City was fatally stabbed on Thursday, reports Jiji Press (Sept. 10).

At around 9:50 a.m., a customer at hotel Poem, located in the Fujimachi Minazawa area, tipped off police about “a woman collapsed and bleeding.”

Officers from the Maebashi Police Station arriving at the hotel found Tsuruko Horikoshi, 71, collapsed face-down in a corridor.

The manager of love hotel Poem was fatally stabbed on Thursday (Twitter)

Horikoshi, who had suffered a single stab wound near the left shoulder, was confirmed dead at a hospital about two hours later.

A murder weapon was not found at the scene, police said.

The hotel is located about 10 kilometers from JR Maebashi Station at the foot of Mt. Akagi. It includes 14 detached guest rooms that are lined up around the circular courtyard, an office and a residence for Horikoshi.

Eight if the rooms were in use at the time of the incident. There were no signs that any part of the hotel had been ransacked, police said.