Photo/Illutration Officers escort Manami Takarajima from the Osaki Police Station in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward on June 27. (Taku Hosokawa)

A woman was arrested on June 27 on suspicion of murdering her parents in April, the seventh suspect connected to the strangulation deaths and the burning of their corpses.

Manami Takarajima, 31, is the common-law wife of Seiha Sekine, 32, a murder suspect who is believed to be the mastermind behind the slayings of Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, and his wife, Sachiko, 56.

Their charred bodies were found on the morning of April 16 at a riverbank in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, 150 kilometers north of Tokyo.

The daughter and Sekine are believed to have conspired with others to murder the parents in an empty garage in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward between the night of April 15 and the following morning.

The couple ran more than 10 restaurants in Tokyo’s Ueno district.

Manami was a director of a restaurant management company chaired by her father, but she resigned in January. She was appointed president of the company in May, after her parents’ deaths.

Sekine managed several of the restaurants for the couple.

However, a conflict over company management arose between Sekine and the Takarajima couple in January, according to investigators. They also suspect Manami took Sekine’s side in the dispute.

Police tied Manami to the crime after analyzing her smartphone data and messages exchanged with Sekine.

Investigators said Manami did not know the four men who are believed to have carried out the murders in the garage.

Another suspect is believed to have acted as a go-between between Sekine and the killers, police sources said.

During voluntary questioning before her arrest, Manami detailed the conflict between Sekine and her parents.

She also expressed dissatisfaction with Sekine's focus on work, claiming he neglected his family responsibilities, the sources said.

(This article was written by Minami Endo, Shomei Nagatsuma and Hiromichi Fujita.)

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