A woman and her parents who have been arrested over the alleged murder of a man found decapitated in a hotel in Sapporo will undergo psychiatric evaluations, investigative sources said Friday.
Runa Tamura, 29, her father, Osamu, a 59-year-old psychiatrist, and her mother Hiroko, 60, will be detained for six months from Monday through Feb. 28 for tests. The period of detention is longer than the two to three months commonly set for such assessments, the sources said.
Prosecutors asked the Sapporo Summary Court, located in the capital of Japan's northernmost island, to approve the evaluations for the family members.
Osamu and Hiroko appealed the decision compelling them to undergo the psychiatric assessments, their defense counsel said the same day.
The victim, identified as Hitoshi Ura, 62, was found naked and decapitated in a hotel in the Susukino entertainment district on July 2.
Police subsequently discovered the severed head at the Tamura residence, suspecting it was removed after the victim's death, and also found video footage of a man's severed head being touched by a gloved hand in their home.
The three were first arrested in July on suspicion of mutilating and abandoning a corpse. They were served fresh arrest warrants earlier this month for allegedly murdering Ura.
While Runa is believed to have been the only one at the crime scene, her parents are suspected accomplices.
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