IBARAKI (TR) – Police are investigating the death of the mayor of Shimotsuma City as a suspected suicide after his body was discovered dumped in a drainage canal early on Monday, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (June 15).
At approximately 12:50 a.m., searching officers located the body of 67-year-old mayor Toyoji Sudo, a resident of Shimotsuma’s Maegawara area, in a waterway in the Hongo district of Yachiyo Town. Based on the circumstances at the scene, Ibaraki Prefectural Police believe the mayor took his own life.
According to police, Sudo’s family filed a missing person report late on Sunday night after he failed to return home.
Officers subsequently launched a search and discovered the body just hours later. Emergency responders rushed to the site, but paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The apparent suicide brings a shocking end to Sudo’s recent political triumph. A veteran politician, Sudo served as a Shimotsuma city council member from April 2002 until January 2014. He mounted a successful mayoral campaign in March, securing his first term by narrowly defeating the incumbent in a fierce, head-to-head race to prevent his rival’s third consecutive term.
Police are continuing to investigate the events leading up to the mayor’s death.
