A 59-year-old woman twice widowed by men who died under mysterious circumstances pleaded not guilty Thursday to killing a male friend 15 years ago in an attempt to cash in on a life insurance policy.
Appearing before the Saga District Court, Eiko Kanno from Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, denied that she killed Yoshihiro Miyoshi, 32, in Kanzaki, Saga Prefecture, in August 1987, even though when first questioned the following year, she admitted being responsible before retracting that remark.
"I did not do it," Kanno told the court in the opening session of her trial.
She admitted, however, that she had registered herself as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy arranged in the name of Miyoshi.