Two Elderly Husbands Arrested in Japan on Suspicion of Killing Wives in Separate Home Incidents

Overview

• In Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, police arrested a 77-year-old man who told investigators he strangled his 78-year-old wife with a necktie after losing his temper.
• A separate son’s call reporting the father’s admission led officers to find the victim unresponsive in a bathroom on Oct. 20, and she was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
• The Funabashi couple lived as a two-person household, and the suspect was detained after returning home; the incident is believed to have occurred between Oct. 19 and 20 in a housing complex near JR Minami-Funabashi Station.
• In Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, an 84-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of killing his 81-year-old wife by strangulation in the early hours of Sept. 30.
• Gunma police say the husband reported the death about two hours later, was found bleeding from what he said was a self-inflicted abdominal wound, and investigators recovered a bloodstained knife as they examine a possible murder–suicide scenario.