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Sister-in-law of Hyogo manslaughter suspect received payout after husband’s death

Miyoko Sumida
Miyoko Sumida
HYOGO (TR) – A relative of a woman under investigation in relation to three bodies discovered in Hyogo Prefecture and accused of manslaughter in a separate case received a larger life insurance payout than previously believed after her husband died in a fall in Okinawa Prefecture, reports Sports Nippon (Oct. 25).

Miyoko Sumida, 64, was previously indicted for the death of 66-year-old Kazuko Oe, whose body was discovered last November encased in concrete inside a drum stored in a warehouse in Amagasaki City, Hyogo. She is accused of inflicting injury resulting in death.

On October 14 and 15, police discovered three corpses under the unoccupied Amagasaki home of the 88-year-old grandmother of the wife of the son of Sumida. The grandmother has not been seen since 2003. Sumida’s sister-in-law, 59-year-old Mieko Sumida, and daughter-in-law, Rui Sumida, 27, are under prosecution for stealing 3.7 million yen in pension money from the grandmother’s account.

Investigators later announced that one body found under the house was that of Mitsue Ando, 71, the girlfriend of Miyoko Sumida’s elder brother. The other two corpses are Mariko Nakashima (29), the older sister of Rui Sumida, and 68-year-old Takashi Tanimoto, whose elder brother was an acquaintance of Miyoko Sumida.

Police revealed on Wednesday that following the accidental death of the 51-year-old husband of Mieko Sumida during a sightseeing trip to Cape Manza in Okinawa in 2005, payouts of 90 million yen for insurance policies and a home mortgage exemption were made to the junior Sumida.

On July 1, 2005, a group of nine people, including both Miyoko and Mieko Sumida, their relatives, and friends, gathered for a photo session at the edge of a 30-meter cliff overlooking the ocean. While standing in the back of the group, the victim reportedly dropped to his death.

In addition to the previously reported policy worth 10 million yen, it was announced that two other insurance policies worth 50 million yen were taken out in the name of Mieko Sumida’s husband. A home mortgage exemption valued at 30 million yen was also collected.

In 2000, a condominium, also located in Amagasaki, was purchased in the name of Mieko Sumida’s husband. A loan of 29.8 million yen was taken out for the purchase, with Ando, who was found under the Amagasaki home last week, as one guarantor. Mieiko Sumida later paid off the loan in full.

News reports have indicated that the condo was outfitted with luxurious interiors and regularly utilized by members of the family. A restaurant operator, who visited the apartment, tells the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 19) that the elder Sumida showed him a glass case containing 200 million yen in precious metals and tableware.

Due to collective debt problems, the home was seized by the courts and will be put up for auction in November.

A person close to the elder Sumida is aware of a total of six murders. In addition the bodies found under the Amagasaki home, the source says three other bodies were disposed of at sea, along the border of Hyogo and Okayama prefectures, and at the home of a relative in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture.