Japan suspect kills self as cops miss two bodies

TOKYO - A man suspected of theft jumped to his death in Japan as a police search of his apartment failed to find two rotting bodies stashed in the closet, press reports said Thursday.

Officers abandoned their search of 62-year-old Isao Takahashi’s home when he threw himself off the six-storey-high roof after telling them he needed to cancel an appointment, Fuji TV and other media reported.

Two days later, Takahashi’s landlord uncovered the two decaying corpses wrapped in paper and plastic during an apartment clean-out in Fukushima in Japan’s northeast.

“The suspect committed suicide about 10 minutes after we started the search. We consequently discontinued the search and could not find the bodies,” police were quoted by the local newspaper Kahoku Shimpo as saying.

Fukushima prefectural police said they could not immediately confirm the reports when contacted by AFP.