Saga district public prosecutors on Wednesday indicted a 59-year-old woman from Shizuoka Prefecture on charges of killing a 32-year-old man in Kanzaki, Saga Prefecture, in 1987 for insurance money.
The indictment came just eight days before the 15-year statute of limitation runs out on the murder-for-insurance case.
Eiko Kanno stands accused of conspiring with a 44-year-old man in the killing of Yoshihiro Miyoshi, a construction worker, in Kanzaki, on Aug. 29, 1987.
Prosecutors, citing insufficient evidence, suspended action on the other suspect, who is currently on trial in Saga on a separate fraud case. Further information about the man was not provided. Kanno was arrested July 30.
Prosecutors say Kanno took out a 50 million yen life insurance policy on Miyoshi in May 1987 and changed the beneficiary to herself five days before Miyoshi's death.
The insurance money was never paid.
Kanno and the other suspect allegedly got Miyoshi drunk on the night of the murder and later covered his mouth and nose with adhesive tape. Miyoshi died of asphyxiation and his body was left on a roadside.
Police also said they are reopening the investigation into the death of Kanno's husband, who was found dead in a parking lot in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, in March 1995. Police said his death was under suspicious circumstances, without elaborating.
Saga prosecutors said they are continuing their investigation into Kanno's alleged accomplice's involvement in the Miyoshi murder.
According to the penal code, the statute of limitation on the male suspect as a conspirator will remain on hold until Kanno's trial is over.