日本“黑寡婦”疑謀殺四任丈夫被捕

日本“黑寡婦”被疑謀殺四任丈夫

When Isao Kakehi, a 75-year-old retired salaryman, was found dead on the floor of his home last December, the police at first believed the cause to be heart failure.

去年12月，75歲的退休上班族筧知勛(Isao Kakehi)被發(fā)現(xiàn)死在家中的地板上時，警方起初認為他死于心臟衰竭。

But a sharp-eyed detective grew suspicious. He noticed that Mr. Kakehi, a longtime widower, had suddenly remarried the month before his death, and to a woman he had just met through a dating agency. When a test of the dead man’s blood revealed lethal cyanide, the police began an investigation of his bride, Chisako, now 68, on suspicion of murder.

但是，一位目光敏銳的偵探開始產(chǎn)生懷疑。他注意到，長期沒有再娶的筧知勛在去世前的一個月突然再婚，而且與他結婚的女性是他通過婚介所剛剛認識的。在死者的血液中檢出致命的氰化物后，警方以涉嫌謀殺為由，開始對他的新娘、現(xiàn)年68歲的佐子(Chisako)展開調查。

What they discovered would shock a country that has one of the fastest-aging populations in the world.

他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)將震驚這個世界上人口老齡化最快的國家之一。

According to the police and news media reports, Mr. Kakehi was just one of six outwardly healthy elderly men who died abruptly over the last eight years after marrying or starting romantic relationships with Ms. Kakehi.

根據(jù)警方提供的信息和媒體報道，過去八年，共有六名看起來比較健康的老年男性在與筧知佐子結婚或戀愛后突然死亡，筧知勛只是其中之一。

All were at least moderately wealthy, with homes and ample savings accounts accumulated over a lifetime of work in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Most died soon after drawing up wills that named her as the sole beneficiary.

他們至少都處于中等富裕水平，擁有房產(chǎn)和充足的儲蓄，這是他們工作了一輩子積攢下來的，為的就是舒服地享受退休生活。他們大多是在立下遺囑，指定筧知佐子為唯一受益人后不久去世的。

The lurid deaths, some spaced only months apart, have grabbed national headlines, prompting tabloids to call Ms. Kakehi the Black Widow, after the venomous female spider that kills its mates. But the case also struck a deeper nerve. If the police allegations are true, Ms. Kakehi preyed on one of the biggest fears of Japan’s rapidly growing legions of retirees, members of a postwar mega-baby-boom who enjoy the longest life spans on earth — but are terrified of having to spend all those silver years alone.

這一系列聳人聽聞的死亡信息——有的僅相隔數(shù)月——已經(jīng)登上了日本的新聞頭條，小報甚至開始把筧知佐子稱為“黑寡婦”。黑寡婦是一種有毒的雌蜘蛛，會殺死與它交配的雄蜘蛛。但是，此案還引起了更深層的擔憂。倘若警方的指控屬實，也就意味著筧知佐子利用了日本正在迅速擴大的退休人群最大的恐懼。這些人都出生于戰(zhàn)后規(guī)模巨大的嬰兒潮時期，他們的平均壽命最長，但是也害怕將不得不獨自度過老年時光。

A former bank teller who looks more like an aging auntie than a femme fatale, Ms. Kakehi (pronounced Kah-kay-hee) met the men through the dozens of specialized dating services that have sprung up here catering to lonely older people. The police say she carefully screened her prospective partners, looking for relatively wealthy men left single by divorce or the death of a spouse. Once she found one, the police said, she showered him with romantic emails professing her love.

筧知佐子曾是銀行柜員，她看起來更像是一位上了年紀的阿姨，而不是一個蛇蝎美人。她通過數(shù)十個專門的交友服務認識了這些男性。這種滿足孤獨老年人需求的服務在日本方興未艾。警方稱，她對自己未來的伴侶進行了仔細篩選，專門尋找那些相對富裕，并且因為離婚或配偶死亡而一直單身的男性。警方說，每找到一個這樣的人，她就會給對方發(fā)送情意綿綿的電子郵件，表達自己的愛慕之情。

“The elderly are an easy target because they have all the money, but they are also so afraid of isolation,” said Hiroyuki Kurokawa, a novelist who published a crime thriller this year that foreshadowed the Kakehi case. “This incident exposed the vulnerability of our aging society.”

“老年人很容易被當做目標，因為他們很有錢，又很害怕孤獨，”小說家黑川博行(Hiroyuki Kurokawa)說。他今年發(fā)表了一部犯罪驚悚小說，故事情節(jié)與筧知勛一案有相似之處。“這件事暴露了我們這個老齡化社會的弱點。”

The Japanese news media have begun using the title of the novel, “Gosaigyo,” or “The Second Wife Con,” to refer to the Kakehi case. Mr. Kurokawa said he had recently signed a movie deal.

日本新聞媒體紛紛開始使用小說標題《后妻業(yè)》(Gosaigyo)來指代筧知勛一案。黑川博行說，他最近剛簽了一部電影合約。

In recent years, Japan has grown fascinated with crimes against the elderly, even though police figures show that such crimes have declined as the society has aged. The most famous scam was “Ore ore sagi,” or “It’s me! It’s me!,” in which swindlers call old people on the phone, impersonating their sons while making tearful requests to send money.

近年來，日本開始關注針對老年人的犯罪，盡管警方數(shù)據(jù)顯示，隨著社會的老齡化，此類罪行已經(jīng)減少。最著名的騙局是“是我是我詐騙”(Ore ore sagi)。在這些騙局中，騙子打電話給老年人，冒充他們的兒子，眼淚汪汪地讓他們給錢。

Partly, this fascination may stem from guilt. While adult children traditionally shared their homes with their parents, the custom has been discarded as Japan has embraced Americanized, middle-class lifestyles in which the elderly live alone.

從一定程度而言，這種關注可能源于內疚。過去，成年子女一般會與父母同住，但是隨著日本接受了美國化的中產(chǎn)階級生活方式——老人單獨居住——這種習俗已經(jīng)被摒棄。

However, Ms. Kakehi has drawn particular attention because she is both elderly, and a woman. Some of her former neighbors in Muko, a small industrial suburb of the city of Kyoto, said that she may have been driven by economic desperation in a society where women still often earn less than men, including their pension payments.

不過，筧知佐子之所以會引起特別關注，是因為她既是老人，又是女性。她之前在京都市郊的工業(yè)化小城鎮(zhèn)向日市的鄰居說，她這樣做可能是出于經(jīng)濟上的困難。因為在這個社會中，女性掙的錢仍然往往比男性少，連退休金也是如此。

“I think this is as much about inequality as aging,” said Keigo Sada, 51, a truck driver who lives two houses down from the small beige house where Mr. Kakehi died. “She was looking for easier ways to get money.”

“我認為這既與老齡化有關，也與不平等有關，”51歲的佐田慶吾(Keigo Sada，音譯)說。這名卡車司機住在距離筧知勛死去時所處的一座小小的米黃色房屋兩座房子的地方。 “她在尋找更簡單的掙錢方式。”

Then again, in that Ms. Kakehi may have accumulated as much as $8 million from the deceased men, according to numerous news reports, something else seems to have been at work.

不過，鑒于筧知佐子從死者那里獲得了高達800萬美元(約合4962萬元人民幣)，根據(jù)大量新聞報道，這里似乎還有一些其他東西在起作用。

Last month, the police in Muko arrested Ms. Kakehi in connection with two deaths, that of her husband, Isao, and also a 71-year-old fiancé who suddenly fell dead off his motorcycle in 2012. A blood sample that a hospital happened to keep also contained cyanide.

上個月，向日市警方因為兩起死亡案件逮捕了筧知佐子，其中一起是她丈夫筧知勛的死亡，另一起是2012年，她71歲的未婚夫在騎摩托車時，突然倒地身亡一事。恰巧被一家醫(yī)院保存的血樣中也含有氰化物。

Last week, the police said they found a small bag of cyanide in a plant pot that Ms. Kakehi had tried to throw away.

上周，警方說，他們在筧知佐子試圖扔掉的一個花盆里發(fā)現(xiàn)了一小袋氰化物。

The police said they were still investigating her role in the other deaths, which had puzzled doctors because they came so suddenly to otherwise healthy men. But the police said it took them a long time to grow suspicious because of the relatively advanced age of the victims.

警方稱，他們仍在調查她與其他死亡案件的關系。這些人的死亡都讓醫(yī)生疑惑不解，因為這些原本健康的男性都是突然死亡的。但是警方說，由于受害者相對而言年紀較大，所以他們花了很長時間才開始懷疑。

“If an old person dies without signs of struggle or bruises, we don’t usually suspect a crime,” said Koji Nishiyama, a detective for the Kyoto prefectural police department, which oversees Muko city.

負責管理向日市的京都地方警局的偵探西山浩司(Koji Nishiyama，音譯)說，“一名老人死亡時，如果沒有掙扎或者瘀傷的痕跡，我們通常不會懷疑存在犯罪。”

Before her arrest, Ms. Kakehi denied killing the men, saying that she was the bereaved victim of a string of tragic misfortunes. Reporters who interviewed her said she alternated between warm and charming, and coldly calculating.

被捕前，筧知佐子否認自己殺害了這些男性，并稱自己才是受害者，這一系列不幸事件令她悲痛欲絕。曾經(jīng)采訪她的記者稱，她表現(xiàn)得時而熱情，時而充滿魅力，有時則表現(xiàn)出一種冷漠的審慎。

They also speculated that she was frustrated with her lot in life: news media reports say she graduated from a competitive high school but was blocked from attending college by her conservative parents.

他們還推測，她因為自己的命運而感到挫?。盒侣劽襟w報道稱，她畢業(yè)于一所頗有競爭力的高中，但保守的父母卻不讓她上大學。

Instead, she married a truck driver who later started a small printing company. He died suddenly in 1994 at 54. While the police now view his death as suspicious, they will not be able to prove it; he, along with most of the other victims, was cremated in accordance with Japanese custom.

后來，她嫁給了一名卡車司機，此人后來開了一家小型印刷公司。1994年，此人突然去世，享年54歲。雖然警方現(xiàn)在認為他的死亡也比較可疑，但他們無法證明這一點;與其他大多數(shù)受害者一樣，他的遺體也按照日本習俗火化了。

The next death came in 2006, to the 67-year-old president of a small drug company she had married two years before. All told, she has been linked by the police and the news media to seven deaths: four husbands, including Mr. Kakehi, and three boyfriends and fiancés.

下一名死者是一家小型制藥公司67歲的董事長。當時是2006年，筧知佐子兩年前剛剛與此人結婚。警方與新聞媒體把她與七起死亡案件聯(lián)系了起來：包括筧知勛在內的四任丈夫，以及三位男朋友和未婚夫。

Some of these relationships overlapped, the police say. In February 2008, when she was married for the third time, to a 75-year-old landowner, she was also dating a clothing boutique owner in his 70s. The men died within two months of each other, in March and May of that year.

警方稱，其中有些關系存在重疊。2008年2月，她第三次結婚，嫁給了一名75歲的地主，但同時也在與一名70多歲的精品服裝店店主約會。兩個月內，即當年的3月和5月，這兩人先后死亡。