A former company president on trial here for fraud was served an arrest warrant Monday for the slaying of his stepfather in Hiroshima for insurance money, police said.
Kiyotaka Oyama, 40, allegedly assaulted his 66-year-old stepfather, Tsutomu Oyama, in October 1998 and passed off the man's eventual death as the result of a traffic accident.
The stepfather was in a coma for several months before dying in a local hospital.
Police said Oyama had large debts and received millions of yen in life insurance money over his stepfather's death.
Investigators also plan to probe the death of his wife, 38-year-old Hiromi, in March 2000.
She drowned after falling from a quay at Hiroshima port during a fishing trip with Oyama. He later received an insurance payment of 3 million yen.
According to police, Oyama beat his stepfather unconscious and put him in the front passenger seat of a car, which he then crashed into a wall.
Oyama reported that his stepfather was injured in the accident, police said, adding that Oyama suffered a minor injury in the crash.
Investigators found bloodstains in the place where the beating allegedly took place, a bathroom on the premises of a Hiroshima company related to the stepfather.
Police said they started investigating the case after receiving a tip by someone close to the suspect.
Oyama was charged with fraud in January after he drove away from a gas station in Hiroshima without paying. He was later indicted on theft charges, police said without elaborating further on the nature of the charges. He is now in the custody of prosecutors.