HYOGO (TR) – In January, the bodies of three family members were found in a private home in Nishi Ward, Kobe City. During the course of the investigation, Hyogo Prefectural Police concluded that a 64-year-old man killed his brother’s wife, 62, and son, 27, before hanging himself.
An interview with an investigator on April 25 revealed that the Kobe Nishi Police Station has posthumously referred the man to prosecutors on suspicion of murder, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Apr. 25).
The man is believed to have killed the two by hitting them with a hammer and taken his life by hanging. This was concluded based on the circumstances at the scene, the source said.
On the afternoon of January 2, the man allegedly used a hammer to fatally bash his brother’s wife, a resident of Nishinomiya City, and son, who lived in Takarazuka City, over the head. He also stabbed them with a kitchen knife.
The police believe that there was some trouble within the family.
According to an investigator, the man lived alone in the house. The other two had visited him that afternoon. Unable to contact the two later, the brother of the man became suspicious and called police. Officers rushed to the scene and found the two collapse inside a Japanese-style room on the first floor. The man was near the stairs.
A bloodstained hammer and kitchen knife were found in the Japanese-style room. The windows and doors of the house were locked, the source said. Nearby security cameras showed no evidence of anyone entering or leaving the house other than the three persons involved.
