WAKAYAMA -- A deceased 27-year-old ex-employee of Kenji Hayashi, whose wife, Masumi, was served an arrest warrant Wednesday for allegedly murdering four people and trying to kill 63 others by lacing their curry with arsenic, has pointed a finger from the grave to implicate her in yet another arsenic-related murder -- his own.
Traces of arsenic have been detected in an unspecified organ of the employee that had been kept at an Osaka hospital since he died there 13 years ago, informed sources say, citing a National Police Agency analysis.
The man used to work with Kenji Hayashi at his termite extermination business. In November 1985, the man was admitted to a Wakayama hospital after vomiting and later moved to the larger facility in Osaka. He died within the week.
The Osaka hospital's doctors diagnosed his death as kidney failure. But after an autopsy, pathologists said there was a high possibility he was poisoned.
The man had been living with the Hayashis' in their house when he was stricken. He told doctors he started vomiting after drinking barley tea that had spoiled.
Masumi Hayashi, who brokered a lucrative life insurance policy for him, received 250 million yen in insurance money as a beneficiary after his death.
The man's family later won back half the sum after taking the Hayashis to court and reaching an out-of-court settlement.