Woman claims to smell 'rotting body' to get attention of police

A woman who falsely reported that her neighbor had died and that she had harmed herself is arrested. (123rf)

A woman has been arrested after making six false police reports, including of smelling a "rotting corpse" and self-harm, police said Wednesday.

According to Bucheon Ojeong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, the suspect, a woman in her 50s, is being investigated on charges of violating the Minor Offenses Act.

She faces charges of making six false police reports about a neighbor’s death or inflicting self-harm from 1:50 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. the previous day.

“I think the person in front of my house is dead. I smell the decomposed body,” she said in the first call to police. Police were dispatched to the site upon her report, but no signs of either a dead body or a smell of decay could be found.

After repeating the same claims to police, she later reported she had been cutting herself. However, when police and fire services forced open her door, she was found unharmed and to be marking her forearm with a red pen.

A police investigation indicated that she wanted to gain attention from police with her false reports.

By Park Ye-eun(park.yeeun@heraldcorp.com)