Tests show dead men took same medicine

SAITAMA--Sleeping medicine detected in the bodies of two men who died this year was the same type as that prescribed for a 34-year-old fraud suspect linked to four suspicious deaths, police sources said.

The Tokyo woman was a caretaker for Kenzo Ando, 80, who died in a fire at his home in Noda, Chiba Prefecture, in May, and also the girlfriend of Yoshiyuki Oide, 41, of Tokyo, who was found dead in a car in August in Saitama Prefecture.

Along with the traces of sleeping pills in their bodies, other similarities were found concerning their deaths.

For example, burned charcoal briquettes were discovered near both bodies. The woman's home computer showed that she had bought charcoal briquettes on the Internet with her credit card, the sources said.

The woman also got hold of the two men's money, according to the sources.

In fact, the jobless woman, who was charged with fraud in separate cases on Oct. 21, is believed to have received at least 89 million yen from several men.

A man in his 70s in Chiba Prefecture transferred 74 million yen to her bank account before dying under suspicious circumstances in August 2007, the sources said.

A Tokyo man in his 50s transferred 7 million yen to her account before he died, also under suspicious circumstances, in January this year, they said.

Ando's bank records revealed several cash withdrawals on the day and before he died.

Oide, an employee of a real estate management firm, was found dead in a rental car in a parking lot in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture, on Aug. 6. The woman had met him through the Internet, according to sources.

Oide had transferred 5 million yen into her bank account.

Police suspect the woman, apparently hugely in debt for the purchase of a foreign car and other expenses, tried to scam several men, mainly by duping them into believing she would marry them.(IHT/Asahi: October 29,2009)