Police begin murder investigation of 6 deaths linked to Tottori woman

Monday 09th November, 04:52 AM JST

TOTTORI —

Police began a full-fledged investigation Saturday over a number of suspicious deaths surrounding a Tottori Prefecture woman arrested over a fraud case with the possibility of building murder cases in mind. The move comes after investigators discovered that a prefectural police officer, who was found hanged in February last year, was an acquaintance of the 35-year-old woman, bringing the number of deaths possibly linked to her to six.

Among the six, 57-year-old Hideki Maruyama, who was found dead in a river in October, had a scar on his face that indicated someone might have tried to press it against something, investigative sources said.

Sleep-inducing drugs and ingredients of a cold medicine were found in the bodies of Maruyama and two others.

Other men whose suspicious deaths were reported earlier this week are a 42-year-old Yomiuri Shimbun reporter who was run over by a train and killed in May 2004, and a 27-year-old company employee who drowned in August 2007 in the Sea of Japan along the coast of the prefecture.

The reporter had become acquainted with the woman as a customer of a bar in Tottori where she worked, while the company employee had lived with her for a period.

Suspicion also surrounds the deaths of Kazumi Taguchi, 58, who lived in an apartment in the same complex as the woman and died at his home in October shortly after becoming ill, and Kazumi Yabe, 47, a truck driver who was found in the ocean off Tottori in April.

All had been acquainted with or had financial troubles with the woman.

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11 Comments

bcbrownboy at 07:14 AM JST - 8th November

Innocent coincidences will be the verdict, no doubt.
airrunwesker at 07:47 AM JST - 8th November

All we can say about this case is that it is consistant... not a 100% tautology. Fraud? who is accusing her? "All had been acquainted with or had financial troubles with the woman". This is their non logical arguement... (A)&(F) therefore (M murder). If I were one of the investigators... I would not simply accuse this woman nor would I throw away other elements of this equation as though only certain elements mattered. Justice... yes! But one could just as easily say these deaths were related to cherries. BURDON OF PROOF!
LoveUSA at 08:59 AM JST - 8th November

How is it a coincidence to know 6 men and all of them are dead? Of cource police will investigate her involvement.
flammenwerfer at 10:00 AM JST - 8th November

What about the money she milked out of many of them?? lots of info on this case is not mentioned above but has been disseminated in other news sources, this "Black Widow" is surely going to get nailed.
kyushujoe at 10:12 AM JST - 8th November

@bcbrownboy

Innocent coincidences will be the verdict, no doubt.

Er....why?
bcbrownboy at 01:16 PM JST - 8th November

*LoveUSA kyushujoe *

Guess you missed the day at uni when they presented irony.
dolphingirl at 01:41 PM JST - 8th November

Coincidence--I think not. But, yes, they are going to have to come up with some conclusive proof. Interesting that the police didn't begin a 'full-fledged investigation' until a cop was found dead. What had they been doing before? A half-fledged investigation? There have been mysterious deaths surrounding this woman for at least 5 years. Did they just make a connection now? This woman sounds devious, manipulative, cunning, and very dangerous. They had better build a solid case against her in regards to these murders; and soon.
polarmalik at 08:41 PM JST - 8th November

The police should interrogate her using Hypnosis - she'll spill the beans....this method is very effective and the accused will always tell the truth which will help in fair Justice....
martyman at 11:32 PM JST - 8th November

The Blackwidow is now linked to six! There are probably a lot more cases out there that have not been looked at with this woman.
Yelnats at 04:01 PM JST - 9th November

We are still waiting for a picture of the woman. Was she so hot that all these guys fell for her?
usaexpat at 11:54 PM JST - 9th November

"Arsenic and Old Lace" anyone? Was she stealing their money or collecting their pensions while pretending they were still alive? Money is the motivation in most of these cases.