HIROSHIMA -- Police on May 5 arrested an 80-year-old local woman after she turned herself in at a police box here and said, "I killed my son."

Kazuko Kiyohara stands accused of attempting to kill a man she was living with in Hiroshima's Naka Ward. The man, Tsuyoshi Kiyohara, 55, was confirmed dead at a hospital, and Hiroshima Chuo Police Station is in the process of identifying him as her son. The police are upgrading the charges to murder and investigating the case.

The woman is suspected of attempting to strangle Tsuyoshi with what appeared to be a piece of string on a bank of the Kyobashi River in the ward at around 6:30 p.m. on May 5. She has apparently admitted to the allegations.

According to the police station, the suspect told investigators that she was living with Tsuyoshi at their home about 3 kilometers from the alleged crime scene. She turned herself in at a nearby police box at around 6:55 p.m. A police officer subsequently found Tsuyoshi collapsed on his back, unconscious. He was taken to a hospital in the city, where he was pronounced dead about 70 minutes later.

The scene of the alleged incident is in a residential area about 1.5 kilometers northwest from JR Hiroshima Station.

(Japanese original by Riku Imura, Hiroshima Bureau)