Photo/Illutration Saki Sudo and Kosuke Nozaki on Dec. 10, 2017 (Provided by Takashi Yoshida)

WAKAYAMA—The widow of a wealthy playboy was found not guilty of murdering him after prosecutors failed to prove she had committed a “perfect crime.”

The Wakayama District Court on Dec. 12 acquitted Saki Sudo, 28, over the 2018 death of Kosuke Nozaki, 77, in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.

The prosecution was seeking a sentence of life imprisonment from the citizen judges at the trial.

But there was no direct evidence linking Suda to Nozaki’s death, and she consistently maintained her innocence.

Nozaki, a successful businessman, was dubbed the “Don Juan of Kishu” in the news media over his boasts of sleeping with thousands of women.

He was found dead in the upstairs bedroom of his home on May 24, 2018, about three months after he married Sudo.

Sudo was indicted in 2021 on murder and other charges. Prosecutors said she killed Nozaki by inducing him to ingest a lethal dose of methamphetamine.

The prosecution argued that only Sudo and Nozaki were at the home during the three-plus hour period in which Nozaki is believed to have died. Investigators said Sudo was the only one who could have forced him to take the drugs.

Prosecutors also argued that Nozaki was pressing Sudo for a divorce at the time, and her motive for murder was to obtain an enormous inheritance.

In addition, the prosecution noted that Sudo had searched the internet for “elderly man, perfect crime” and “methamphetamine, death” shortly after their marriage.

They said she learned how to carry out a perfect crime that left no evidence, and that she inherited a portion of his wealth.

Sudo denied the charges, saying, “I did not kill the president (Nozaki), and I did not make him take methamphetamine.”

The defense argued there was no proof that Nozaki was even forced to ingest methamphetamine, saying he may have taken the drugs on his own.

As for the internet searches, Suda testified that she used those search words simply to satisfy her curiosity about unsolved and creepy crimes.

The defense counter-argued there was no “divorce crisis” between Sudo and Nozaki, and that Sudo was receiving 1 million yen ($6,570) every month from her husband.

She had no reason to kill him, her lawyers said.

(This article was written by Shinichi Kawarada and Hideki Ito.)

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