The naked body of a 10-year-old boy was found Monday night on a hill in Hino, western Tokyo, with the hands and legs bound. The police are investigating the case both as a possible suicide and murder.

According to officers at Hino Police Station, the boy left home at around 11 a.m. Monday and did not return.

After receiving a call from the boy's mother around 6:30 p.m., police searched the neighborhood and found his body, which bore no trauma marks, on a hill in the Misawa district.

He was found on a slope with a vinyl cord coiled around his neck that stretched to a tree about 1.5 meters away.

Both his hands and legs were bound with rope. His clothes were found nearby.

Surrounded by a residential area, the hill is located about 600 meters southwest of Takahata-fudo Station on the Keio Line.

A housewife in her 70s who lives in the area said even adults tend to avoid the hill at night because the area gets pitch-dark after sunset.

"I was surprised to hear from a friend of mine that the body of a child was found over there. Neither the police nor the city are saying much about it, so I don't know what's happening. I'm so scared I can't go out," she said.

Another woman in her 70s said: "I can't believe something this awful happened in our quiet neighborhood. It's too bad that a child died."