A 36-year-old mother has confessed to abandoning the body of her newborn in a suitcase near her apartment in Kanagawa Prefecture, police said Sunday.

Aya Tanaka left the body of her baby girl in the suitcase in October on the premises of her apartment building in Kawasaki, according to police.

A plumber working near the apartment Saturday found the decomposed body of a baby in a small suitcase with its umbilical cord still attached, the police said.

Tanaka told investigators following her arrest that she had passed out after giving birth and that when she regained consciousness, her daughter was dead. She said she covered the baby with a towel and put her in the suitcase.

The police will carry out an autopsy to investigate the cause of death.