A woman employed by Tokyo Electric Power Co. who had been missing since March 8 was found strangled in an unrented Tokyo apartment late Mar. 19, police said Mar. 20.

The woman, 38, was found dead at about 6 p.m. in a first-floor tatami room of an apartment house in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. Her body was discovered by a man hired by the building's owner to regularly check vacant apartments.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the victim, a resident of Tokyo's Suginami Ward, was an economic research staffer for Tepco. She had been dead for more than three days and the corpse showed signs of strangulation.

The victim had been out of contact since she left home on the morning of March 8. Her family had sought police help to find her. The apartment where the victim's body was found has been vacant since November, and the door was not locked. She was found clad in a blouse and skirt, lying in a supine position. A black purse found in the room contained only loose change, though her family told police that she usually carried about 100,000 yen in cash. Neighbors reportedly heard a man and woman talking in the room March 15 and 16, and an employee of a convenience store in the vicinity reportedly said he often saw a woman who appeared to be victim in the area.