Crime & Courts

Man Rearrested in Another Thallium Poisoning Case

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Kazuki Miyamoto is seen at the Osaka prefectural police department in March, when he was sent to the regional public prosecutor’s office on suspicion of allegedly killing a 21-year-old woman with the highly toxic element thallium.

Jiji Press

12:19 JST, May 25, 2023

Osaka (Jiji Press)—Japanese police on Wednesday served a fresh arrest warrant for Kazuki Miyamoto, who has been indicted for allegedly killing a 21-year-old woman with highly toxic thallium, on suspicion of attempting to murder his aunt with thallium as well.

Miyamoto, 37, has remained silent, according to police sources.

The Osaka prefectural police department suspects that Miyamoto tried to kill his 61-year-old aunt with thallium in mid-July 2020.

The aunt is now unconscious in a medical institution in the western prefecture of Kyoto, suffering from incurable encephalitis.

In March this year, Miyamoto was arrested for allegedly killing Hinako Hamano, who was a student of Ritsumeikan University in the city of Kyoto, with thallium in October 2022.

Public prosecutors have indicted Miyamoto on charges of murdering Hamano.

During its investigation into the murder case, the Osaka police department learned that Miyamoto’s aunt had been hospitalized, and detected thallium in her blood and urine samples.