Team DailyPedia
Japan – Tagged as the “black widow”, Chisako Kakehi was arrested for the killing of her husband through cyanide poisoning.
It was reported that his latest husband was her seventh partner that died in a matter of 20 years. The 67-year-old millionairess was the highly suspected person behind these killings because of her being the sole beneficiary of a combined 800 million yen (£4.3million) from insurance and assets of all her seven ex-partners.
Police said if she is found guilty, she will be the latest example in the country of a “black widow” – named for female spider that consumes its mate after coupling.
According to investigations, Chisako’s involvement with the incidents began in 1994 after her 54-year-old first husband died. In 2006, her second spouse, 69, passed away because of stroke. Her third husband, 75, died in 2008. One year later, her boyfriend who was believed to have suffered from an unknown cancer also breathed his last. Then, in 2012, her partner collapsed while riding a motorbike.
Less than 2 months after Chisako married her fourth husband, Isao Kakehi got sick and died at a hospital in December 2013. An autopsy found traces of highly toxic cyanide compounds in his blood. Prior to that, her 75-year-old boyfriend all of a sudden fell ill and died after they ate together at a restaurant.
On Wednesday, Chisako Kakehi was arrested in Kyoto.
The suspect has accepted that she has been married four times and that several former partners have died within a few years of meeting her, but she denied any involvement in any of the deaths saying she has no idea about cyanide, reports Japan Times.
A detective handling the latest case suspected she did it for money.
“If people suspect murder, I’d find it easier to bite my tongue off and die,” Chisako told reporters.
According to investigators, they cannot tell how many people have died in the suspect’s hands. “Given their advanced age, we have to proceed carefully to judge whether their deaths were actually the result of foul play or not.”
In an earlier interview with Jiji Press, Chisako was quoted saying that she was “doomed by fate” to experience a series of deaths of her loved ones.
Reports of numerous “black widow” multiple murders have been accounted in Japan in the past years. One was Kanae Kijima in 2012 who was sentenced to hang for killing three men she met on dating sites. The suspect poisoned her victims with carbon monoxide after drugging them with sleeping pills.
