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Japan's 'Black Widow' Confessed to Murder, Then Took It Back

The case of Chisako Kakehi—who's been romantically linked to at least ten men who have later died—has captivated a country where virtually no violent crime occurs.

Chisako Kakehi has been on trial since June 26 for allegedly killing two of her husbands and attempting to murder a boyfriend. But on Monday, as she was being grilled about the death of the last of her four spouses—Isao Kakehi—the 70-year-old seemed to lose her patience with the judicial process.

"I killed my husband," she said from the witness stand, the Japan Times reports. "I have no intention of hiding the guilt. I will laugh it off and die if I am sentenced to death tomorrow."

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Kakehi went on to say that she poisoned her late husband partially because she was angry that he had been less financially generous with her than he had been with previous partners. She apparently then decided to inherit his estate so she could pay off debts.

According to the BBC, Kakehi met her fourth husband on a dating site, and he died in December 2013 a month after the pair was married. An autopsy confirmed that the 75-year-old had been killed by a fatal dose of cyanide.

The woman that Japanese media has dubbed the "black widow" has been romantically linked to more than ten men who have later died, and has inherited an estimated 1 billion yen—about $8.8 million—as a result.

Part of the reason that the trial has attracted so much attention in Japan is because the country has one of the lowest homicide rates in the world. In July 2016, a man stabbed 19 people in a nursing home—a crime that made international headlines for being the biggest mass murder to happen on the island nation since World War II.

Like last year's stabbing, the "black widow" case revolves around elderly people (all of Kakehi's deceased partners are between the 70 and 80 years old), adding another level of intrigue since Japan has the highest life expectancy in world. The question of what the social welfare state should do with its aging population is often at the political fore.

Meanwhile, it's unclear how Monday's confession will affect the high-profile trial, in which more than 50 people are expected to testify. The prosecution has no physical evidence to present, and Kakehi's lawyers have maintained that their client has dementia.

On Wednesday, the Kakehi appeared to retract her confession, telling the court that she didn't remember what she said. Her trial is expected to continue into November.

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