Japan arrests woman and her parents over man’s beheading in downtown hotel

Police arrest mother after severed head recovered from their family home

Hotel sealed in Sapporo, northern Japan after headless body of a man was discovered (AP)

The Japanese police have arrested a woman and her parents on the suspicion of beheading a man at a "love hotel" in Sapporo in northern Japan.

The woman's 60-year-old mother was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of conspiring with her family after the severed head of the decapitated man was found in their house.

Runa Tamura, 29, and her father Osamu Tamura, a 59-year-old psychiatrist, were arrested on Monday by the Hokkaido police for allegedly conspiring in beheading the victim at a hotel room and relocating his severed head between the night of 1 and 2 July.

The victim has been identified as 62-year-old Hitoshi Ura. His naked and headless body was found in the hotel room bathroom on 2 July.

The police are still investigating the motive and have refused to say if the woman and the victim knew each other.

Authorities suspect that the daughter carried out the killing and subsequent beheading by herself, while her father helped her carry the head out of the hotel, Japan Times reported.

The investigators found no traces of a third person entering the hotel room and the father is likely to have dropped off and picked up his daughter before and after the killing.

An autopsy of the victim found the cause of the death to be a hemorrhagic shock, which could have occurred by blood loss from stab wounds. The victim's head was cut off with a blade and then removed from the room.

Runa Tamura, who was arrested in connection with the case that a headless man was found, is transferred from a police station in Sapporo (AP)

Local media reported that Ms Tamura and another individual at around 10.50pm local time checked into the hotel in the Susukino area, famous for its short-stay "love hotels". Three hours later she was seen leaving the hotel alone, carrying a large suitcase.

The person accompanying the victim was wearing light-coloured women's clothing and a wide-brimmed hat when entering the hotel but was dressed in black when leaving, according to Japan Times.

Ura's corpse was reportedly found by a hotel employee who went to probe why he didn't leave the room past the checkout time. His belongings, including government ID, phone and clothes, were taken from the room.