82-year-old wealthy man bludgeoned to death with hammer… 23-year-old wife and husband “shudder at the details of the crime”

He said, “I knew he had money. （I used a hammer to kill him.

The man who bludgeoned an elderly wealthy man to death is said to have made this statement during a police interrogation.

On January 19, the Osaka Prefectural Police Investigation Section arrested three men and a woman on suspicion of robbery, murder, and home invasion. The suspects are Masakazu Nekawa, 44, who runs a demolition company, his wife Zameki, 23, and Toshio Nogi, 58, a construction worker. The suspects are said to have killed Katsuya Kawasaki, 82, a resident of Ikuno Ward, Osaka Prefecture, by repeatedly hitting him in the face and head with a hammer.

The incident occurred in the early hours of December 1 last year. At around midnight, the three men drove a dump truck and a mini-car to the front of the three-story Heights apartment complex where Mr. Kawasaki lived. Using a ladder from another adjacent house, the suspect entered the Heights. He broke the window glass from the balcony and killed Mr. Kawasaki, who was sleeping in his bedroom on the second floor,” said a reporter for a national newspaper.

His wife was asleep on the third floor. ……

It is estimated that Mr. Kawasaki was beaten to death in the early morning around 6 a.m. An hour later, an acquaintance found him lying in a pool of blood near his bed. An hour later, an acquaintance found him lying in a pool of blood near his bed, his face and head crushed and broken, and he was already not breathing. Mr. Kawasaki lived with his wife. His wife, who was asleep on the third floor at the time of the incident, was safe and unaware of the incident.

When the police analyzed the nearby security cameras, they found several people unloading ladders from a dump truck and going to the crime scene. When the police analyzed the license plate number of the car, they found that it belonged to the suspect’s demolition company in Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, which led to the arrest of the three men.

The three were arrested. The suspect stated that he knew there was money in Mr. Kawasaki’s house, so he probably killed Mr. Kawasaki for the purpose of robbery. However, perhaps Mr. Kawasaki’s defiance was so fierce that no money or goods were taken from him, although there were traces of a struggle at the scene. Neighbors have heard screams and fierce arguments.

The plan was meticulous.

The first floor of the Heights where Mr. Kawasaki lived was a tavern run by his wife. As a customer of the tavern, the suspect learned that Mr. Kawasaki, a wealthy man, had a large amount of money in his house. He must have also heard about the structure of the Heights and the possibility of breaking into the house from the adjacent residence. He also knew that Mr. Kawasaki and his wife were sleeping on separate floors. It is also known that he had made a careful inspection of the area around the Heights before the incident.

Due to the effects of the new coronavirus, the business performance of the suspect’s company was not good. He must have been in considerable financial trouble. He seems to have conspired with his business partner, Nogi, and his wife, Zameki, to commit the crime. The suspect, who is 21 years younger than the suspect, got married about two years ago, and they have a young daughter together. ……” (Another reporter from a national newspaper)

The three suspects took the life of a wealthy man because of the deteriorating business condition of his own company. The police have not revealed their admissibility.