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."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_as/japan_closet_woman