Three siblings lived for up to three years with what is thought to be the skeleton of their mother, police in Japan said Thursday, with a report adding they believed she had not died but become a god.
The three -- two women aged 59 and 52 and their 65 year-old brother --have denied that they conspired to abandon a body, a crime under Japanese law, because they say their 88-year-old mother is still alive.
"Our mother has become a god. She is not dead but is in the process of being elevated into a higher being," they told officers in Usa, southwestern Japan, according to Jiji Press.
A police spokesman told AFP they were awaiting final confirmation but believed the skeleton was that of a woman who would be 88 if she were still alive.
"We discovered today from an autopsy that the skeletonised body is that of a female who died two or three years ago, but we have to wait for the results if a DNA test to confirm her identity," the spokesman said.
Japan police arrest siblings over skeleton mother
Three siblings lived for up to three years with what is thought to be the skeleton of their mother, police in Japan said Thursday, with a report adding they believed she had not died but become a god.
The three -- two women aged 59 and 52 and their 65 year-old brother --have denied that they conspired to abandon a body, a crime under Japanese law, because they say their 88-year-old mother is still alive.
"Our mother has become a god. She is not dead but is in the process of being elevated into a higher being," they told officers in Usa, southwestern Japan, according to Jiji Press.
A police spokesman told AFP they were awaiting final confirmation but believed the skeleton was that of a woman who would be 88 if she were still alive.
"We discovered today from an autopsy that the skeletonised body is that of a female who died two or three years ago, but we have to wait for the results if a DNA test to confirm her identity," the spokesman said.