Wife Charged as Accessory in Sakai Slaying

The estranged wife of a wealthy Tarzana businessman who authorities believe was slain by the couple’s son was charged Monday in the killing.

Sanae Sakai, 51, was charged with one count of being an accessory to murder after the fact, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Lonnie Felker said.

Sakai was arrested at her home in the 19000 block of Braewood Drive on Friday. Her husband, Takashi (Glenn) Sakai, 54, was missing for 10 months before his body was found Feb. 10 in a shallow grave near Malibu Canyon Road. Los Angeles police said he was stabbed to death. The couple were separated at the time of his disappearance, authorities said.

Felker said their son, Toru Sakai, 21, who was living with his mother but fled the area recently, is being sought on suspicion of killing his father.

“We feel she helped her son afterward,” Felker said. “She had knowledge of the fact that a murder took place.”

Police have been investigating the case since shortly after Takashi Sakai left a Beverly Hills dinner April 20 and disappeared.

Sakai’s wife and son were in custody briefly in December, when police searched family financial records at the couple’s Tarzana home. Sanae Sakai was released after the search, but Toru was held for four days. The district attorney’s office, citing insufficient evidence, declined to file a charge against him, and he was released Dec. 7.

Takashi Sakai, founder of Pacific Partners, a subsidiary of World Trade Bank, was an entrepreneur and consultant who helped Japanese companies invest in businesses in the United States.