Akiyoshi case: Relative of slain Japanese’ wife is possible suspect to the crime

By Ronron
July 17, 2007

A relative of the wife of the slain Japanese national in Angeles City, Pampanga is now being hunted by police operatives to shed light on the crime, a police official said Tuesday.

Sr. Supt. Sonny Cunanan, chief of the Angeles City Police Office, said a relative of Elizabeth Akiyoshi had a previous misunderstanding with the latter’s Japanese husband, Reisuke, and this could be a possible motive for the killing of the Japanese.

Reisuke, 67, was found dead on Monday morning inside his rented apartment in Barangay Anunas, Angeles City by his wife and responding policemen. Police confirmed on Tuesday that he died of a gunshot wound to his head.

“We are concentrating on a possible suspect and we are already looking for him. He is a relative of the wife of the victim,” Cunanan told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview yesterday.

“Based on the information we gathered, he previously had a misunderstanding with the victim,” he added, but without elaborating.

Cunanan said the case is initially being considered robbery with homicide because some personal items of Akiyoshi are missing. These include his laptop computer and pieces of jewelry.

But Cunanan said they are not also discounting the possibility that the motive for the killing is job-related considering that the laptop of Akiyoshi contains important documents significant to his work.

Akiyoshi, according to police, is a civil engineer who works as a sub-contractor for the Clark Premiere Industrial Development Park Corporation, which has an ongoing construction project of the Clark-Tarlac Road.

Cunanan admitted though they do not know of any issue yet involving Akiyoshi at his workplace.

Akiyoshi’s wife sought for police assistance when the Japanese failed to respond to her calls outside their apartment when she arrived Monday morning from her home province, La Union.

The wife left their apartment last July 14th to go to San Fernando, La Union, and only went back Monday morning, together with their 19-year-old daughter./DMS