Photo/Illutration Police transport Saki Sudo in a van on April 29 in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. (Takaharu Yagi)

A 25-year-old woman accused of murdering her elderly wealthy husband by force-feeding him stimulant drugs had contacted a suspected dope dealer by smartphone before the death, according to investigative sources.

Wakayama prefectural police sent the suspect, Saki Sudo, who lives in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward, to the Wakayama District Public Prosecutors Office on April 29 on suspicion of murder and violating the Stimulants Control Law.

A van carrying Sudo left Tanabe Police Station in Wakayama Prefecture at around 11 a.m. She sat in the back seat with her head down.

Investigators said she is responsible for the death of Kosuke Nozaki, 77, the self-proclaimed “Don Juan of Kishu,” in May 2018. An autopsy showed the cause of death was acute poisoning of a stimulant drug.

After his death, police analyzed communications logs of Sudo’s smartphone.

According to the sources, Sudo searched for information about stimulant drugs on the internet after marrying Nozaki in February 2018.

She also had conversations with a person believed to be a drug dealer, the sources said.

The sources said the communications records showed that the two met in Tanabe. 

Investigators said they also found a trace amount of a stimulant drug on the floor of a kitchen on the first floor of Nozaki’s home in Tanabe.

Nozaki was found dead on a couch in a bedroom on the second floor of the home around 10:30 p.m. on May 24, 2018. The estimated time of death was 9 p.m.

The autopsy found a lethal dose of ingredients from a stimulant drug in his stomach.

Nozaki operated consumer finance and real estate businesses. His assets were estimated to be worth at least 1.3 billion yen ($11.9 million), including savings and negotiable securities.

Nozaki boasted of his sexual escapades with a number of women in his memoir, titled “Don Juan of Kishu,” published in 2016. Kishu was a domain name for what is now Wakayama Prefecture.

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