Three Mummified Bodies Found in Japan Home

Police who broke into a locked home in Japan after neighbors complained of a foul smell found three partially mummified and almost naked bodies, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The bodies, which were partly decomposed and partly desiccated, were wearing only underwear in the living room of the two-storey house in Namerikawa, 250 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Tokyo.

The dead were believed to be Shoichi Osaki, a 78-year-old pensioner who owned the house, his 45-year-old daughter and mentally handicapped 40-year-old son, a local police spokesman said by telephone.

Neighbors alerted police after not seeing the three for around a month.

"We believe the Osakis have been dead for quite some time as their bodies were partly mummified," the official said. "Neighbors told us they had noticed a strange odor emanating from the house for a few weeks."

An autopsy was being performed to determine the causes of their deaths, he said, adding foul play was not suspected.