Japan’s alleged ‘black widow’ arrested following deaths of seven partners

The 67-year-old has received about Dh25 million of combined assets from the deaths of her former partners in the last 20 years.

File photo of Japanese woman Chisako Kakehi,67, who was arrested in Kyoto on November 19 on suspicion of poisoning her husband with cyanide in the latest 'black widow' case. Jiji Press/AFP Photo

TOKYO // A 67-year-old millionairess in Japan was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of poisoning her husband with cyanide, as it emerged that she was the beneficiary following the deaths of six of her former partners.

Chisako Kakehi has been the beneficiary of a combined 800 million yen (Dh25m) over the last two decades, Jiji Press said.

The amount came from insurance money and other assets she received after the seven men’s deaths, in Japan’s latest “black widow” case.

Her fourth husband, Isao Kakehi, fell sick suddenly at home and was confirmed dead at a hospital in December last year, less than two months after the couple married.

An autopsy found highly toxic cyanide compounds in his blood.

That came after the September death of a 75-year-old boyfriend, who fell suddenly ill after the couple ate together at a restaurant, local media reported.

Ms Kakehi’s dalliance with death began in 1994 when her first husband passed away at the age of 54.

In 2006, her second husband died of a stroke at the age of 69.

Her third marriage ended in 2008 with the death of her 75-year-old partner, Jiji said.

A boyfriend, believed to have been suffering from 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.

Ms Kakehi was arrested Wednesday by police in Kyoto on suspicion of murdering her latest husband. She has denied any involvement in his death.

“We suspect she did it for money,” said a police investigator on the latest death.

Police are now working on the theory that she could have been behind the deaths of at least some of the other six.

Ms Kakehi protested her innocence when questioned ealier this year.

“If people suspect murder, I’d find it easier to bite my tongue off and die,” she said in March.

Jiji Press quoted her as saying in an earlier interview that she was "doomed by fate" to suffer a series of deaths among those close to her.

If she is found to have been involved in their deaths, Ms Kakehi will become Japan’s latest “black widow” – named for the female spider that devours its mate after coupling.

In 2012 Kanae Kijima was sentenced to hang for the murders of three men, whom she met through internet dating sites.

Another woman, former bar hostess Miyuki Ueta, is also waiting on the outcome of a supreme court appeal against a death sentence for the killing of two men.

* Agence France-Presse