Two bodies found in Iwate house in suspected arson-murder

Police are investigating a case of suspected arson-murder after two bodies were found in a burning house early Wednesday morning in Iwate Prefecture.

At around 3:30 a.m., police received reports that the house of Mitsuo Yoshida, 65, in Morioka city’s Nishimatsuzono area, was on fire. When police and firefighters arrived at the scene, they found Yoshida unconscious and bleeding from head wounds, in the garden, Fuji TV reported. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after.

A second body, severely burned and presumed to be that of a male, was found inside the house.

Yoshida was living together with his wife, who was not in the house, but nearby at the time of the blaze. She told police that she witnessed her husband having an argument with another man in the garden just after the fire broke out.

A follow-up investigation revealed that police found a burning car in front of Yoshida's house, which had over 10 gas cylinders and containers full of gasoline in its trunk.

According to police, there were several other fire outbreaks in the area on the same night, with four houses being completely or partially burned to the ground in the nearby Daishincho area at around 2:48 a.m., while a car and other objects were found burning in Kitamatsuzono, approximately 7 kilometres away from Yoshida's house, at around 3:12 a.m.

© Japan Today