Bringing a dramatic conclusion to a nearly three-decade-long international crime saga, a Japanese businessman accused of conspiring to have his wife murdered 27 years ago in Los Angeles hanged himself in his jail cell hours after returning to face charges, police said Saturday.
Kazuyoshi Miura, 61, was found dead in his jail cell at the Los Angeles Police Department's Parker Center headquarters about 9:45 p.m. Friday by an officer during a routine inspection, said Deputy Chief Charlie Beck.
"It was apparent that the murder suspect, alone in his cell, had used a piece of his shirt as a makeshift ligature around his neck," Beck said.
Miura, who had been dressed in street clothes, was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Beck said.
Authorities contacted the Japanese consulate general's office, which notified Miura's family in Japan.
Miura's case has long been a high-profile story in Japan, where the once ocean-hopping importer was dubbed "the Japanese O.J. Simpson."
His extradition had drawn journalists to Los Angeles from dozens of media outlets as far away as Bangkok, Tokyo and Saipan, the U.S. territory Miura had been visiting when he was taken into custody in February.
Miura's attorney, Mark Geragos, who spoke from New York, said the Los Angeles County district attorney's office notified him about 12:15 a.m. Saturday. "None of this makes any sense," he said.
Geragos said a lawyer from his office had visited Miura, who was in good spirits. "There was no indication that he was despondent or depressed," Geragos said. "He was ready and girded for the fight."
Geragos said he would demand an independent investigation. Beck said the department would conduct a "thorough investigation," which will be reviewed by Police Chief William J. Bratton, the LAPD's inspector general and the Los Angeles Police Commission.
"Irony of ironies that after all this time he's finally back and now this," Bratton said Saturday. "It's tragic in the sense that the opportunity to have him go before a court, well, that opportunity is not going to present itself. Whatever his reason for taking his own life, well, it leaves the whole matter unsettled."
According to the state's "minimum jail standards," cell inspections are required every 30 minutes. Based on the LAPD's preliminary information, a detention officer checked on Miura at 9:36 p.m. and found nothing unusual.
