THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 25, 2024 at 14:14 JST
A Tokyo couple accused of fatally poisoning two family members, including their 4-year-old daughter, were rearrested on Oct. 25 on suspicion of murdering another relative.
The Metropolitan Police Department rearrested Kenichi Hosoya, 43, and his wife, Shiho, 38, on suspicion of murdering Kenichi’s father, Isamu, 73.
The suspects are residents of Tokyo’s Taito Ward, and they work as executives of a hotel management company.
Police said two somehow got Isamu to ingest ethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze, at a hospital where he was staying and at other locations between 2017 and June 2018, when he died of sepsis.
Isamu had been repeatedly in and out of the hospital.
Police analyzed his medical records, his blood samples stored at the hospital, as well as the couple’s smartphones.
Investigators concluded that Isamu was killed by ingesting antifreeze, a poison connected to the couple in other mysterious deaths in the family.
The couple were first arrested in February this year on suspicion of murdering their second daughter, Yoshiki, 4, by inducing her to consume antifreeze and olanzapine, an antipsychotic drug.
In March, the couple were rearrested on suspicion of murdering Kenichi’s older sister, Minako, 41, by poisoning her with ethylene glycol. Minako died in April 2018.
The suspects were indicted on murder charges in September in connection with Minako’s case.
Police are also investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kenichi’s mother, 68, in January 2018.
Kenichi succeeded his father as head of the hotel management company after his death. Shiho became a director of the company the following month.
Police believe family arguments over the company were behind the incidents.
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