The 74-year-old 'Black Widow' killer who murdered her lovers with cyanide

At 75, Isao Kakehi was in good health and in love. It was 2013, and he had embarked on an exciting new relationship with Chisako Kakehi, a 67-year-old widow he met through a Japanese matchmaking agency. Within two months, the couple married, moved in together, and began a seemingly blissful life in Kyoto's Muko City, making rice cakes for their New Year's celebrations. But Isao Kakehi didn't live to see in the new year. On December 28, he became the fourth and final victim of Japan's "Black Widow" killer. Chisako Kakehi, now 74, is on death row for murdering three romantic partners and the attempted murder of a fourth. The murders started in 2007, when she was 61, but she escaped suspicion until Isao Kakehi's death prompted a police investigation that resulted in her arrest in 2014. At 75, Isao Kakehi was in good health and in love. It was 2013, and he had embarked on an exciting new relationship with Chisako Kakehi, a 67-year-old widow he met through a Japanese matchmaking agency. Within two months, the couple married, moved in together, and began a seemingly blissful life in Kyoto's Muko City, making rice cakes for their New Year's celebrations. But Isao Kakehi didn't live to see in the new year. On December 28, he became the fourth and final victim of Japan's "Black Widow" killer. Chisako Kakehi, now 74, is on death row for murdering three romantic partners and the attempted murder of a fourth. The murders started in 2007, when she was 61, but she escaped suspicion until Isao Kakehi's death prompted a police investigation that resulted in her arrest in 2014. For a woman who has become infamous in Japan, little is known publicly about Chisako Kakehi's personal life. Born in Japan's southwestern Saga prefecture, Kakehi worked at a printing factory, and married her first husband in 1969, when she was 23, according to CNN affiliate Asahi News. Japan's 'Black Widow' serial killer loses death sentence appeal Their marriage lasted 25 years before his death of an illness in 1994. By 2007, she had entered into a relationship with 78-year-old Toshiaki Suehiro. On the afternoon of December 18, 2007, Kakehi had lunch with Suehiro and his children. Suehiro took health supplements -- making it easy for Kakehi to disguise a cyanide capsule as one of his pills and give it to him, said the ruling. Less than 15 minutes after lunch, Suehiro collapsed unconscious on the street. By the time an ambulance arrived, he was gasping and "on the verge of stopping breathing," said the court ruling. Kakehi accompanied Suehiro to the hospital -- but gave herself a pseudonym, "Hiraoka," when talking to the ambulance staff and Suehiro's family. At the hospital, doctors found he was close to death after suffering from internal asphyxiation. Suehiro survived -- the only one of Kakehi's four victims to do so -- but he was left with "incurable higher dysfunction and visual impairment," said the court ruling. He died a year and a half later of an unrelated illness, according to Asahi News. A few years later, Kakehi was eying her next victim. The motorcycle victim Masanori Honda was in good shape for his 71 years. By 2011, his diabetes had subsided to a "mild status" and he often frequented sports clubs, said the ruling. He was also diving headfirst into a relationship with Kakehi. Though it's unclear how they met or how long they dated, the couple told friends later that year they planned to marry. The following spring, Kakehi made her move. On March 9, 2012, she met Honda at a store, then the two went their separate ways. Around 5 p.m. that day, he lost consciousness while riding a motorcycle. Less than two hours later in hospital, doctors confirmed his death. Evidence later showed that Kakehi had no plans to live out her years with Honda. Two months before his death, in January 2012, she had already begun secretly dating other men through a dating agency. The cancer survivor and the final victim Minoru Hioki struggled with loneliness and a relapse of lung cancer in his later years. But by July 2013, life was looking up: his cancer had been almost completely treated by radiation therapy and "he was in great health," said the ruling. To top it off, the 75-year-old had a new romantic interest. By August 2013, Hioki appeared devoted to Kakehi, writing to her in an email that he wanted to "stay together forever." They were close, often eating together and spending the night in each other's homes, said the ruling. Their idyllic romance came to an end on September 20 when the couple went out for dinner. Hioki, like Kakehi's second husband Suehiro, often took health supplements in pill form -- so it was easy for her to give him a cyanide pill "under the guise of health food," said the ruling. They had just finished their meal when Hioki lost consciousness. By the time an ambulance arrived, he was "breathing painfully and gasping," according to the ruling. Despite knowing he had children and had recovered from his cancer, Kakehi lied to the ambulance crew, claiming he had no family and was suffering terminal lung cancer. When they offered the resuscitation procedure, she refused permission to resuscitate him. He died within two hours. Kakehi only seemed to get bolder in accumulating relationships and victims. In November 2013, just two months after Hioki's death, she had already married her next and final target -- Isao Kakehi. And barely a month after their wedding, she began dating another man in secret, according to the ruling. But Isao Kakehi was none the wiser, and seemed renewed with enthusiasm for life. In email exchanges and messages, he told his new wife he wanted to "do their best to enjoy a bright second life and live long." Within weeks of their marriage, the newlywed suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest shortly after eating dinner at home with his new wife. She called the ambulance, which rushed him to the hospital -- but he died just an hour later. His death roused suspicion about Kakehi's string of unlucky lovers, prompting a police investigation that quickly unraveled her web of deceit.

Colombia captures most wanted drug lord, ‘Otoniel,’ in bust compared to Pablo Escobar’s fall

Colombia’s most wanted drug lord, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, widely known by his alias Otoniel, has been captured by armed forces in his jungle hideout. Úsuga, 50, a former left-wing guerrilla and later a paramilitary fighter, is the alleged leader of the notorious drug trafficking group Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan, which dominates major cocaine smuggling routes through thick jungles in the country’s restive north. President Iván Duque likened his arrest Saturday to the capture of Pablo Escobar three decades ago. The billionaire drug baron, known as “the Godfather,” once sat on top of the drug world with tentacles reaching around the globe.

“Otoniel was the most feared drug trafficker in the world, killer of police, of soldiers, of social leaders, and recruiter of children,” Duque said during a broadcast video message. “This blow is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.” Úsuga is accused of sending dozens of shipments of cocaine to the United States. He is also accused of killing police officers, recruiting minors and sexually abusing children, among other crimes, Duque said. The U.S. government had put up a reward of $5 million for help locating him. “Otoniel’s capture is truly important,” said Daniel Mejía, a Colombian university professor and expert on narco-trafficking. “He was the head of the most powerful narco-trafficking structure in Colombia, the Gulf Clan, which holds domain of a broad part of the territory.” Analysts are warning of possible violent repercussions and internal power struggles as others jostle to take Úsuga’s place. Still, his arrest is unlikely to change the fundamentals of drug trafficking in Colombia, which experts say is much more fragmented now than in the days when Escobar dominated the trade. Escobar revolutionized cocaine trafficking in the 1970s and 1980s, pioneering large-scale shipments first to the United States, then to Europe. “This is not going to move the needle in terms of the war on drugs. … What happens next is different pieces of the puzzle aligning to fill the vacuum of power left by Otoniel,” said Sergio Guzmán, director of the consulting firm Colombia Risk Analysis. “Soon we’ll have another kingpin and another drug lord who may be much worse.” In its reward notice, the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs said Úsuga’s criminal network used violence and intimidation to control narcotics trafficking routes, cocaine processing laboratories, speedboat departure points and clandestine landing strips. He set up operations in the strategic Gulf of Uraba region in northern Colombia, a major drug corridor surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Caribbean sea on the other. Úsuga evaded capture for years by moving between safe locations in the remote jungle region. Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas, director of Colombia’s national police, said Saturday that Úsuga slept in rough conditions, hardly ever spending time in homes, and dined on his favorite jungle animals. Years of intelligence work, with assistance from the United States and United Kingdom, eventually led Colombian special forces soldiers to his jungle hideout, Vargas said. He moved around with eight rings of bodyguards. Úsuga’s arrest is a win for the conservative President Duque, whose law-and-order rhetoric has been no match for soaring production of cocaine. Duque said Saturday that there are extradition orders against Úsuga, and authorities will work to carry out those orders while “learning all of the truth about the rest of his crimes in our country.” Úsuga was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2009 on narcotics import charges and for allegedly providing assistance to a far-right paramilitary group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Later indictments in Brooklyn and Florida accused him of international cocaine distribution dating back as far as 2002, conspiracy to murder rival drug traffickers and drug-related firearms offenses. Pannett reported from Sydney, Durán reported from Bogotá, Colombia, and Schmidt reported from Meta, Colombia.