TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police are investigating what is believed to have been a group suicide after the discovery of three corpses inside a vehicle in Hachioji City on Sunday, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct. 27).
At around 10:15 a.m., a female acquaintance of one of the three persons tipped off the Takao Police Station. “My friend is talking about committing suicide with persons met via a [smartphone] app,” she reportedly said.
Just over two hours later, officers arriving at a parking lot in the mountainous area of Kamionga Tamachi found the three bodies — two women and one man — inside a parked vehicle along with two burned charcoal briquettes.
The two women were in the driver’s and passenger seats. Meanwhile, the man was in the back seat. None of the bodies showed signs of external wounds, police said.
Police suspect that they took their lives through the inhalation of carbon monoxide fumes released by the briquettes.
Police are now seeking to confirm the identities of the persons.
