61-year-old Kazuyoshi Miura, a suspect in the 1981 murder of his wife, apparently hanged himself while in police custody. The news came via his attorney, Mark Geragos, who, according to abc7.com, "was notified early Saturday by prosecutors in the case about his client's death."
Miura and his wife were visiting Los Angeles when she was murdered, and "Los Angeles County prosecutors contended Miura wanted [her] dead so he could collect about $750,000 on her life insurance policies. They argued that he signaled someone to shoot the couple, although no one else has been charged." A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1988, and his 1994 conviction in the Japanese case for the murder was overturned. Miura was being held in the commonwealth of Saipan while he awaited his extradition to the US.
He was in Los Angeles less than 24 hours before he committed suicide.
Photo by abardwell via Flickr




I have a feeling the police (L.A.P.D?) are going to catch hell over this. Prisoners are supposed to be jailed with no shoelaces, belts, or other means of committing suicide. So what happened?
The extradited accused murderer may have also tipped the cops off as to his plans---that hat he wore as he exited the plane that brought him back to L.A. had "Peace Pot Microdot," the stoner hippie farewell, emblazoned on his baseball cap in bold white lettering.
So, this guy was either thumbing his nose at the LAPD one last time (He beat the original murder rap), or... or... or... the cops made smartass pay. Anyone recall the name Ron Settles?
DB