Chinese Woman Identified Months After Headless Torso Found Floating Near Japan's Yokohama Park

Japanese police have identified a headless torso found floating off a popular waterfront park in Yokohama last year as that of a 45-year-old Chinese woman who had been living in Tokyo, as investigators continue to examine whether her body was deliberately dismembered and dumped at sea.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police said on Tuesday that the remains belonged to Yu Xiaofang, a Chinese national who lived in Ota Ward, Tokyo, and worked part-time, according to Yangtze Evening Post.

The case surfaced on November 1, 2025, when a passer-by spotted a body floating in the water near Yamashita Park in Yokohama's Naka Ward, close to the historic ship Hikawa Maru, and alerted authorities.

Police and firefighters recovered only the woman's upper body. The head and lower half were missing, and the body was unclothed, according to earlier reports.

An autopsy indicated the victim was likely a woman aged between 20 and 50 and had been dead for several months. Her blood type was O, but the cause of death could not be determined.

Investigators said there were no signs suggesting the body had been damaged by a ship's propeller or marine animals, leading them to suspect it had been cut apart by a person.

Police treated the case as suspected corpse abandonment and spent months trying to identify the victim, searching the waters near the park and carrying out DNA testing.

The breakthrough came after someone connected to Yu contacted police, saying they had been unable to reach her. A missing-person report had also been filed, TBS reported. DNA testing and other investigative work later confirmed her identity.

Police said Yu had likely been caught up in a criminal incident and are continuing to investigate how she died, who dismembered her body and how the remains ended up in Yokohama Bay. No suspect has been publicly named.