A millionairess was arrested in Japan Wednesday on suspicion of poisoning her former husbands for their fortunes.
According to AFP, Chisako Kakehi is suspected of killing her late husband with cyanide. After tests came back positive for the poison, police looked into Kakehi’s marital history and discovered all of her past husbands were of elderly age and died in abrupt ways.
Officials believe Kakehi killed the men for their million dollar fortunes. Dubbed the “Black Widow” by reporters in Japan, the 67-year-old has earned nearly 800 million yen ($6.8 million) in total from their life insurance policies.
“We suspect she did it for money,” a police investigator on the latest death said without giving details of the amount involved. Kakehi’s dalliance with death began in 1994 when her first husband passed away at the age of 54.
In 2006 her second husband, whom she had met through a dating agency, died of a stroke aged 69, while the third marriage ended in 2008 with the death of her 75-year-old partner, Jiji said.
A boyfriend, believed to have been suffering from some form of cancer, died a year later, and in 2012 her then-fiance met his fate after collapsing while riding a motorbike. Traces of cyanide were detected in his body, media reports said.
An autopsy report found highly toxic cyanide poisoning in Kakehi’s latest victim who passed away in September.
That came after the September death of a 75-year-old boyfriend, who fell suddenly ill after the couple ate together at a restaurant, Jiji said.
Police are working on the theory she could have been behind at least six deaths but it is not for certain.
“We can’t say how many now… Given their advanced age, we have to proceed carefully to judge whether their deaths were actually the result of foul play or not,” the investigator told AFP by phone.
If Kakehi is found guilty in the malicious acts of killing numerous partners she will face the death penalty.
She has since denied any involvement in the deaths.
SOURCE: AFP | PHOTO CREDIT: Handout
