Police in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, on Monday arrested a 19-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of abandoning the corpse of her newborn son after giving birth at her home.

According to police, the suspect, who cannot be named because she is a minor, gave birth to her son at her home in late September and then placed the infant’s body, with his umbilical cord still attached, inside a plastic bag and put it in a cardboard box, Sankei Shimbun reported.

Her mother discovered the box on Monday after noticing a foul odor coming from her daughter’s room. She then took her daughter to the police station.

Police said the suspect told them there was no crying or movement from the baby when he was born and she thought he was dead.

The suspect lives with her older sister and mother.

© Japan Today