THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 1, 2022 at 18:31 JST
Rin Takai, a suspect in the murder of Naoko Takai (The Asahi Shimbun)
OSAKA--A murder suspect accused of killing his adopted mother for insurance money was found unconscious with no vital signs after an apparent suicide attempt at a detention facility here, according to the Osaka prefectural police and other sources.
Sources said an officer at Fukushima Police Station in Osaka discovered Rin Takai, 28, hanging from a string made of what appears to be layers of cloth in his cell on the third floor of the police station building at around 7 a.m. on Sept. 1.
The suspect, an unemployed resident of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, was lying in a futon bedding in the roughly 5- to 6-square-meter solitary cell when the officer checked on him at 6:44 a.m., according to the sources.
The sources said Takai was rushed to a nearby hospital and is receiving treatment.
Police officers have been closely monitoring him while in detention by more frequently checking on him at night than other detainees as he kept tabs on the movement of officers and indicated during questioning that he was considering trying to escape, according to the sources.
Prefectural police are investigating how Takai obtained the cloth.
The suspect has been held at the detention facility since he was first arrested on July 20 on suspicion of forging a private document with a signature or seal and using it to register himself as an adopted son of Naoko Takai.
The suspect was arrested again on Aug. 25 for allegedly drowning Naoko, 54, to death in a bathtub at her home in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, in July last year and claiming about 50 million yen ($359,100) on her life policies upon her death.
Naoko, who worked for a group company of a major bank, took out life insurance policies worth about 150 million yen, and Rin is suspected of naming himself as the beneficiary.
Following Naoko’s death, the suspect filed a request with a family court for approval for terminating the adoption contract apparently to escape the obligation to support her relatives.
The suspect inherited Naoko’s savings and other money worth around 100 million yen as he was her adopted son at the time of her death.
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