Japan's "Black Widow" Killer Chisako Kakehi Who Murdered Lovers with Cyanide

At the age of 75, Isao was in excellent health and deeply in love. In 2013, he began a relationship with Chisako, a 67-year-old widow he met through a matchmaking service in Japan. The couple quickly married, settled together in Muko City, Kyoto, and enjoyed their time making rice cakes for the New Year. Tragically, Isao didn't survive to celebrate the New Year; he passed away on December 28, becoming the last victim of a notorious criminal in Japan.

Now 74, Chisako is on death row, convicted of murdering three partners and attempting to murder a fourth. Her criminal activities began in 2007 when she was 61, but it wasn't until Isao's death that a police investigation was launched, leading to her arrest in 2014.

In 2017, following one of Japan's lengthiest trials, she received a death sentence. An attempt to appeal this decision was unsuccessful in June.

According to NHK, the national public broadcaster, the presiding judge in the June hearing remarked, "She methodically gained the trust of elderly victims through a matchmaking agency, only to subsequently poison them. The crimes were committed with a calculated and intense intention to kill."

Her case has gripped the nation, shedding light on the risks that elderly individuals face online, especially regarding romance scams. It has also prompted widespread pondering over why a woman in her later years would start to murder the men she claimed to love.

Beginning of the Crimes

Despite her notoriety in Japan, details about Chisako Kakehi's early life remain largely unknown. She was born in Saga prefecture in southwest Japan. Kakehi worked in a printing factory and married her first husband in 1969 at the age of 23, as reported by Asahi News, a CNN affiliate.
Their marriage endured for 25 years until his demise due to an illness in 1994.

By 2007, she had begun a relationship with Toshiaki Suehiro, who was 78 years old. On December 18, 2007, Kakehi joined Suehiro and his children for lunch. Suehiro regularly consumed health supplements, which allowed Kakehi to easily slip a cyanide capsule among his pills, as stated in the court's decision.

Within 15 minutes of their meal, Suehiro suddenly collapsed on the street. By the time emergency services arrived, he was struggling to breathe and was near respiratory failure. Kakehi went with Suehiro to the hospital, but used the alias "Hiraoka" while interacting with both the ambulance crew and Suehiro's family. At the hospital, it was discovered that he was critically ill, suffering from internal suffocation.