Tokyo police served fresh arrest warrants Friday to a couple accused of killing family members using antifreeze, this time on suspicion of murdering the husband’s mother by employing the same killing method.
Kenichi Hosoya, 43, and his wife, Shiho, 38, were served arrest warrants for the fourth time, following warrants over the deaths of their second daughter, the husband’s father and his sister.
The duo, who operated a ryokan inn in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, have remained silent, according to people familiar with the investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department.
Police believe the Hosoyas killed family members in order to take over the management of the ryokan, and that the murder of Kenichi’s 68-year-old mother, Yaeko, was linked to the bad relationship between her and Shiho.
Suspect Shiho Hosoya enters the Asakusa Police Station in Tokyo on Friday. The handcuffs and waist ties are blurred for privacy reasons. | Jiji
For the latest arrest, the couple are suspected of making Yaeko ingest ethylene glycol, which is used as antifreeze for car engines, from around August 2017 and killing her on Jan. 21, 2018.
The series of alleged killings came to light following the March 2023 death of the couple’s 4-year-old second daughter. They were first arrested in February this year after ethylene glycol was detected in her body.
They were served arrest warrants for the second and third time on suspicion of murdering Kenichi’s sister in April 2018 and his father in June that year, respectively.