NAGANO (TR) – Nagano Prefectural Police suspect that a male stalker of a Filipino woman stabbed her and her husband before setting their house in Nagano City on fire, an incident that has resulted in the deaths of all three persons, reports NHK (Feb. 7).
At around 10:10 a.m. on Sunday, emergency personnel found the body of 57-year-old Shoichi Kitamura was in the ruins of his two-floor residence.
Kimura’s wife, 41-year-old Flora Cabornay Kitamura, suffered burns to her entire body in the blaze. She was was confirmed dead at a hospital on Tuesday. The cause of her death was not revealed.
According to police sources, it has been confirmed that the body of a 40-year-old Filipino national living in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, who stalked the wife of Kitamura, was also found inside the burned-out residence.
Just prior to the outbreak of the fire, police received a distress call from a person at the residence. With a gasoline can being found at the scene, police believe that the stalker intruded into the residence and stabbed Kitamura and his wife before setting the house on fire.
As previously reported, the mother of Kitamura, 85, suffered light injuries in the incident.
In December, Kitamura’s wife lodged a complaint with police about the stalker. Then, at the beginning of last month, he visited the area of the residence. After being warned by police on two occasions to stay away, he said he would not repeat the act.
The case is being as murder and arson, police said.