A woman's death in Yokohama in 2015, initially ruled a suicide by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police, is now being treated as a potential homicide by the Saitama District Public Prosecutors Office. Investigations revealed that the accused, Jun Saito, 32, allegedly strangled the victim with her consent. In light of this new perspective, the Kanagawa police admitted on the 23rd of the month that their initial inquiry was insufficient and expressed their apologies to the deceased's family. They acknowledged that they had not recognized the signs of foul play during the initial investigation, as they had relied heavily on the circumstances surrounding the death which led them to conclude it was a suicide.

Yuuji Shibuya, the head of the investigation division, discussed the case in a press conference, stating, "We made a comprehensive judgment of suicide based on the situation at the scene, but we take the fact that we failed to recognize the murder seriously." The police had reassured that they would be conducting an internal investigation into the handling of the case while cooperating with the Saitama police. However, they declined to elaborate on specific mistakes in the investigation due to the ongoing nature of the court proceedings.

The accused, Jun Saito, has been charged with murder based on allegations that he obtained consent from the victim to end her life. Testimonies in the initial trial indicated that the victim, who had previously expressed suicidal thoughts on social media, had her parents questioning the police's initial conclusion of suicide. The case has raised serious concerns regarding the investigative practices of law enforcement, especially in matters involving mental health and consent, igniting discussions around the need for improved protocols in ambiguous cases such as this one.