Japan’s ‘black widow’ sought new mate after fourth husband’s poison death

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Japan’s ‘black widow’ sought new mate after fourth husband’s poison death

PUBLISHED : Friday, 21 November, 2014, 10:47pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 22 November, 2014, 2:53am

Agence France-Presse in Tokyo

Chisako Kakehi is surrounded by reporters in Sakai, western Japan in this file photo taken in March. Photo: AP

A Japanese woman dubbed the black widow by media was on the hunt for an "unattached elderly man with assets" immediately after her fourth husband was poisoned with cyanide, reports said yesterday.

Chisako Kakehi, 67, who was arrested this week on suspicion of murdering her 75-year-old spouse just a month after they married, had received one billion yen (HK$66 million) in insurance and other pay-outs over 10 years following the deaths of six husbands and lovers, media said.

But the former bank worker, who held the money in more than 10 accounts under different names, had lost most of the cash in bad bets on futures markets, the Yomiuri reported.

The Asahi newspaper said Kakehi met most of the men through marriage agencies, where she would look for partners who had land or property, but no children, the paper quoted sources as saying.

Soon after Isao Kakehi - her fourth and most recent husband - died in December 2013 of cyanide poisoning, she was on the prowl for a new companion, it said. She wanted the man to be "elderly" and "living alone", the paper said, citing an investigator.

She also suggested "it would be better if he has an illness".

Police in Kyoto found traces of cyanide in the rubbish at her home, media said. Kakehi has denied any wrongdoing.