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Ehime cops: Woman under investigation in murder commits suicide

A woman under investigation in a murder in Imabari City has committed suicide
A woman under investigation in a murder in Imabari City has committed suicide (NHK)

EHIME (TR) – A woman under investigation in a pair of murders in Imabari City has committed suicide, police have revealed, reports NHK (May 5).

On Friday morning, police found the woman, aged in her 30s, dead. No details have been revealed as to how she took her life. Suicide was determined as the cause of death after an examination of a note.

At 1:30 p.m. the day before, police began questioning the woman about a stabbing incident that left one women dead and her son injured. After about nine hours, police released the woman. At 9:00 a.m. the following day, police found the woman dead before beginning a second round of questioning.

In the incident in question, police found 92-year-old Yukie Okamoto collapsed with a stab wound to her chest inside an apartment in a municipally managed housing block in the city on Wednesday at around 9:00 a.m.

Okamoto and her son, who suffered a stab wound to his back, were transported to a nearby hospital where Yukie later died that same day.

According to Hisayuki, a middle-aged woman, who is not an acquaintance, committed the stabbing and fled the scene. An examination of security camera footage by police showed the woman near the apartment at the time of the crime.

The location of where the stabbing took place is 400 meters from a residence where another woman, 81-year-old Satsuki Ochi, was found stabbed to death on April 26. Police are investigating whether the two incidents are related.

A representative from the headquarters of the Ehime Prefectural Police offered condolences to the families of the deceased. “We vow to continue to solve the murder case,” the representative said.