Posted on 05/30/2008 11:34:17 PM PDT by Hildy
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."
Japanese guys...by the time you figure travel, work and boozing after work...are out of the house sixteen hours of the day. Most of these guys are out of the house all day on Saturday....and probably half of Sundays. So she had plenty of time in the week to hang around the house. What is curious about this....it took him a year to figure that food was disappearing. Half of us guys would never have noticed. We would have bought twice the amount of pop-tarts, bacon, and waffles as necessary...and just accepted it.
So I'm looking at it thinking, how can a woman live in this closet? So I go to the caption and it says "A closet is seen in this file photo."
So I have to think that AP doesn't think that you or I know what a closet looks like....maybe it's just late....
Every so often you hear odd news stories like this. It’s amazing these things happen, but they do.
You see what happens when your closet isn’t organized?
More questions: How big was this closet? Did the man never look in this closet for a whole year? How quiet could this woman have been?
There was a horror story about a killer who hid undetected in an attic for a year. I just remembered it the other day, and thought, That could never happen.
It’s just mind boggling.
What a way to live ...This woman has some serious mental problems ...
Yep, she was one of the last holdouts from WWII. Never got the word about the surrender. Been hiding in the closet eating grubs and worms all these years.
It makes you wonder about those monsters hiding in the closet and under the bed when you were a little kid. Strangest story I’ve seen in awhile.
It’s one of those things that prove reality is stranger than what we could ever imagine.
Cloths go on the floor.
Not noticing missing pizza slices? Who are you kidding? Like when I leave a half of Tuesday night ham and pineapple nicely boxed for Sunday's game? I. Know. I. Got. 4. Slices.
I think if she did any cleaning, I'd notice. Maybe. Or not.
Nice catch, Hildy!
When food goes missing in my house, I always figure mice... maybe I should check the closets!
If she lived in a closet for a year, not a few days, and the closet I presume is within the guys house, and of course she didn’t spend every minute in the closet, then she lived inside with heat, plumbing and running water. So she’s not “homeless”. True, it’s not her home, but there’s many true “homeless” that would love a good closet.
bump for the Saturday crowd.
Have you questioned your dog?
but don’t you dare give them muffin stems...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
