Former TBS announcer Ako Kawada commits suicide 川田亜子さん自殺

Former TBS announcer Ako Kawada 川田亜子 was found dead Monday. Kawada sealed herself in a car belonging to her talent agency and died of carbon monoxide poisoning via a small grill in the backseat of the car. She was 29.

There was a note addressed to her parents in the car but nothing else indicating why she had decided to commit suicide. In her 5/22 blog post she wrote: 一番苦痛であります。(It is most painful) and 今はせつないです。(Right now (I) am sad) and according to her talent agency she was recommended to see a doctor as her physical appearance had worsened at the beginning of the month.

Other reports:
MDN (English)
Tokyograph (English)
Sankei Sports (Japanese)
Yomiuri (Japanese)

This is currently the cover story for a number of the daily sheets and what I woke up to when watching めざましテレビ. One of the main reasons I know who she is is that as a TBS announcer, she was one of the hosts of BODY, the precursor to SASUKE Maniac. She was also a sideline reporter at both SASUKE, KUNOICHI and the Sportsman No. 1 competitions during her time at TBS (2002 to 2007).