KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police suspect that a 24-year-old man committed suicide at a dam in the village of Kiyokawa in 2003 after murdering a woman at the restaurant where she worked, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Apr. 24).
At around 1:25 a.m. on November 9, 2003, Tadayoshi Kubo is alleged to have used a knife in fatally stabbing Shiho Nakano, 26, in the chest after she exited the restaurant where she worked into a parking lot in Atsugi City.
Thereafter, Kubo plunged into the Miyagase Dam in taking his life. His body was found in August of last year.
Construction work on the dam was completed in 2000, about three decades after it began. During that period, about 300 households were relocated to accommodate the lake behind the dam.
Due to drought conditions, the water level of the lake dropped to 55 percent of capacity in July of last year. The figure is the lowest since records started being kept. At this time, some of the abandoned infrastructure that was once underwater emerged after the water level dropped.
After the stabbing, Kubo was placed on a wanted list. On Tuesday, police plan to send papers on him to prosecutors on suspicion of murder.