A 43-year-old nurse who was arrested Sunday for allegedly trying to kill her 15-year-old daughter to collect insurance money may have been lacing the child's drinks with an asthma drug for months, police said Monday.
Yukiko Sakanaka was arrested on suspicion of attempting to kill her daughter by giving her salbutamol sulfate-laced tea on two occasions when the girl was in a hospital in the city of Tenri, Nara Prefecture, in May. The drug helps expand bronchial passages.
The daughter is insured for 30 million yen, police said.
Investigators were also looking into the 1997 deaths of Sakanaka's 9-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son. Sakanaka received some 20 million yen in insurance payments from the two deaths.