It’s time to put on your detective pants and try to figure out what happened in this strange death of a man in his 70s in Okinawa. Details are sketchy but police are leaning towards an accidental death.

At around 3 p.m. on 12 March, a 110 (Japan’s 911) call came in reporting “a man lying on the ground with blood pouring from his neck.” Doctors hurried to the scene, a prefectural housing project in Nishihara, Okinawa, and confirmed the man was dead.

Near to the body were some spherical floats used for fishing nets possibly made of aluminum. There was also some type of cutting tool with blood on it. According to Nikkan Sports it was a chainsaw, whereas an FNN report describes it as an electric power saw.

The body was discovered lying just outside of a balcony of a room on the first floor of the apartment building. Police soon determined the body to be the elderly resident of that room.

The authorities are not ruling out foul play but speculate that the man accidentally hit his neck with the tool while trying to cut through a fishing float.

Was it a murder? If so, why would someone want to kill a senior citizen living in subsidized housing? If it was an accident how could the man lose control of his saw in such a way that he cut through his own neck?

Hopefully the truth will be revealed as the investigation progresses.

Source: Nikkan Sports, FNN