Posted by By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 30, 8:34 PM ET
TOKYO – A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.
Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.
The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.
One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.
"We searched the house … checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."
The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man’s house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.
She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."
If it were me? I’d probably let her stay. I mean if she wanted to do him harm, she would have done it already. She just wanted a place to stay. Plus she’s neat and clean. I’d help her find a job and let her stay at my place temporarily until she got on her feet. Interesting story.
Yeah it’s somewhat creepy. But I think if she really wanted to harm him she would have done it. She wanted the basics. Food, shelter, and a bath.
You can’t help but let your heart go out to someone like her. Touching story! : )
i would let her stay too..as long as she earned her keep…she could do laundry, cook, clean…as long as she was contributing, I would let her stay..
This is an interesting story. Its scary though! I would not have let her stay. She went into his house without his permission! Thats crazy…
I read about that on yahoo news.
THey probably wouldn’t be able to get away with it since I hang out in my closest alot, have lots of stuff in it and rearrange it alot
I agree whole-heartedly. I bet she’s a very nice person, with her being so quiet and so neat. My heart really does go out to the poor thing…over there in Asia, there’s just so many people…It makes me wonder why there’s so many group-projects, and charities, that are being donated to Africa when in reality Japan needs help funding for a better housing-project, and needs to figure out a way to get more land for its residents.
This just freaked me out. A whole year! And imagine what she might have seen or heard because he thought he was alone. I would have had to talk to her about it and then decided whether I wanted her to stay or not, obviously she wasn’t stealing besides food because he didn’t report possessions missing, Maybe he could use a housekeeper for a place to sleep. I wish it would have said if he was frequently out of town or whether he was home everyday. I DON"T know if I would have let anyone know it happened because it was a whole year, I think I would have escorted her to the door and made sure it was locked!
LOL weird – i walk into my closet everyday so if anyone was there they’d get hit in the head with a stiletto!