HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police are investigating what is believed to have been a murder suicide after the discovery of the bodies of a man, 40, and his daughter at his residence in Itami City on Sunday, reports Jiji Press (Apr. 24).
At around 9:35 p.m., officers arrived at the apartment and found the bodies of Kohei Takeda and his daughter, 4-year-old Yuri, who had been strangled by a necktie. Takeda was found hanged by another necktie from a piece of steel exercise equipment.
About two hours before, the former wife of Takeda, 38, alerted police, saying that she could not reach her former husband, whom she divorced in November of last year.
Following the divorce, the woman had taken custody of Yuri with Takeda being granted access to his daughter once a month.
Police suspect that Takeda strangled his daughter to death before taking his own life.