Homeless Solicitor Is Cleared in Slaying of Japanese Businessman

A man suspected of threatening the life of a Japanese businessman later found slain in his Camarillo home may have been a solicitor for a homeless shelter whose entreaty was misinterpreted, authorities said.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Vincent France said detectives learned that a representative of a San Fernando Valley rescue mission was soliciting donations Feb. 10 in Yasuo Kato’s Arabian Place neighborhood.

France said the solicitor, who was interviewed by detectives a second time Tuesday, did not recall getting into an argument with a Japanese man or issuing any threats.

“We’re confident he was not involved in the homicide, regardless of whether or not he was involved in that confrontation with Mr. Kato,” France said.

Kato, 49, was stabbed twice in the heart in his garage on Feb. 23 with a bloodstained hunting knife found near his body. A martial arts expert, Kato collapsed without even touching his wounds, leading investigators to conclude that whoever killed him either knew Kato well or caught him by complete surprise.

Kato previously reported to police that an unidentified man confronted him at his front door on Feb. 9 and demanded money, which he refused to give. Kato said the man claimed to be “an unemployed American who lost his job because of the Japanese,” and threatened his life after Kato shoved him out of his house and locked the door.

France said Kato, who spoke little English, may have misunderstood the solicitor, whom detectives said was unemployed.

Though the solicitor was in the neighborhood on Feb. 10--a day after Kato said the confrontation occurred--France said Kato filed his police report on Feb. 19 and could have given the wrong date of the incident.

France said investigators are still pursuing the possibility that someone else accosted Kato at his home and later returned to kill him. But the likelihood of the killing being a hate crime is appearing more remote, he said.

“We cannot absolutely eliminate that (a hate crime), but we feel we’re getting to a point where we might be able to in the near future,” France said.

Investigators also suspect that the man who confronted Kato may have been acting alone, France said. Kato told police that he saw a second man on a motorcycle by his driveway, but did not see his assailant talk to the motorcyclist nor ride off with him.

County detectives, eight of whom have been assigned to the case, are continuing to explore the possibility that Kato was killed because of business dealings here or in Japan.

Upon moving to the United States in 1988, Kato started a real-estate development and investment firm and ran a luxury-car, import-export company with his 25-year-old son, Toshiyuki Kato. Sheriff’s investigators have contacted Japanese law enforcement agencies, using the U.S. Departments of State and Department of Justice as intermediaries, to get information on Kato’s prior business operations in his homeland, said Lt. Joe Harwell, head of the detective unit.

Japanese newspapers initially reported that Kato left heavy debts from a foundering machine-tool company when he left Japan, but a Japanese newspaper said Tuesday the reports were wrong.