A 92-year-old man in Chiba Prefecture, Japan was arrested on suspicion of strangling his 91-year-old wife. He stated that the couple had long been suffering from illnesses and felt very pessimistic about the future. They originally planned to commit suicide together, but in order to make his wife's passing easier, he strangled her with an electric cord first. "I didn't intend to kill her," he said, adding, "(We will) remarry in heaven."
According to Japanese media reports, on the morning of March 4th this year, around 8 a.m., a relative came to visit the elderly couple but found a suicide note on the first floor. The couple was found lying unconscious on their backs in the bedroom on the second floor. After receiving a report, the police rushed to the scene and sent the couple to the hospital. After emergency treatment, 92-year-old Hachirou Nomura regained consciousness, while his 91-year-old wife Namiko was pronounced dead. The cause of death was asphyxiation from neck compression.
From the content of the suicide note, Hachirou Nomura stated that both of them suffered from illnesses, causing them to "feel pessimistic about the future."
Hachirou Nomura was arrested on August 12th.
During interrogation, Hachirou Nomura also said he had tried to commit suicide with his wife by burning charcoal briquettes, but strangled his wife first in hopes of easing her pain: "Then I would die too, and we would remarry in heaven," he said. "I didn't intentionally kill her."
In Japan, many elderly people can only rely on each other for care. Due to the long-term exhaustion from 'elderly caring for the elderly', despair for the future, or the inability to withstand pleas from the dependent, cases of elderly people killing their spouses frequently occur. Statistics show that from 2012 to 2021, at least 437 murders or suicide cases related to caretaker fatigue occurred in Japan, averaging one every eight days. Overall, perpetrators are mostly male (husbands), and 70% of the victims are female (wives).
In recent years, such incidents have often been reported by the media.
In September 2024, in Kumamoto City, an 89-year-old husband named Mamoru Maruyama strangled his 83-year-old wife with a scarf. He said his wife suffered from a serious illness and had long wanted to die but was unable to do it herself, so she asked her husband to do it for her.
On November 24, 2024, in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, an 84-year-old husband strangled his 81-year-old wife with a cord. His wife suffered from severe dementia and had difficulty walking. The husband committed the crime due to caregiver fatigue and despair about the future.
On February 27, 2025, in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, an 83-year-old husband strangled his 80-year-old wife, also due to long-term caregiver fatigue.