HOKKAIDO (TR) – An elderly man facing trial for the attempted murder of his wife has been found dead on a mountain, five days after vanishing from a local hospital, prosecutors announced, reports Nippon News Network (Aug. 21).
Shortly after 11:00 a.m. on Friday, the Hakodate District Public Prosecutors Office confirmed the death of 77-year-old Kiyoshi Okawa.
According to police, searching officers discovered Okawa’s body lying face up in a rocky area approximately one kilometer from the Mount Hakodate Observatory.
Okawa was indicted last month on charges of attempted murder. In June of this year, he allegedly attempted to kill his wife, who is in her 70s, by striking her with a hammer at their shared residence.
The defendant had been granted a suspension of his detention on August 16 so he could receive medical treatment. He was admitted to a hospital in Hakodate City but slipped away from the facility later that evening, sparking a police manhunt.
