Crime & Courts

Mother of Woman Accused of Beheading: ‘I Couldn’t Turn My Beloved Daughter in to Police’

Illustration and composition by Moe Furuta
A courtroom sketch shows Hiroko Tamura answering questions from her daughter’s attorney.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:47 JST, December 13, 2024

SAPPORO — The mother of a 30-year-old woman charged with killing and beheading a man in Sapporo last July explained that she did not report her daughter’s crime because “I couldn’t turn in my beloved daughter to the police,” during a hearing at the Sapporo District Court on Thursday.

The man, 62, was found dead with his head having been decapitated in a hotel room in the Susukino district of Sapporo in July last year.

The suspect, Runa Tamura, has been charged with murder and other offences.

Her mother Hiroko Tamura, 66, is accused of allowing her daughter Runa to keep the man’s head in the family home.

Hiroko said that Runa proudly showed her parents the head. The mother described her feeling at that time as “hopeless,” saying it was clear even to her that her daughter’s behavior was abnormal.

“I knew that Runa would be caught eventually, so I wanted to spend the remaining days with her,” Hiroko said.