“The preliminary investigation suggests that Kawada and the victim were in a dating relationship and that the victim became pregnant,” authorities announced in a press release. “Kawada is alleged to have secretly given the victim medication under the guise that he was giving her iron pills and vitamins. That medication was actually intended to end the pregnancy. After the victim had been given the pills, one of which is believed to be Misoprostol, the victim suffered a miscarriage.”
Misoprostol and mifepristone are the two medications which are used together as medication for abortion according to information provided on Planned Parenthood. While the prescriptions are usually used to together, Misoprostol can also be taken solely.
According to a statement obtained by media, the woman said that she met Kawada on a dating app. The two of them went out on a few dates and had consensual unprotected sex.
Kawada and the woman ended their relationship in March after which she learned she was pregnant. When she revealed the fact to Kawada, they met several times in the course of the next six weeks.
According to her probably cause statement, she said during one of the meetings, Kawada gave her pills he claimed were iron supplements or vitamins which investigators later discovered were misoprostol. And also gave her raspberry leaf cookies.
Raspberry leaf tea is known to induce labor and shorten in and according to authorities cited in the document it is “considered potentially dangerous in the first trimester as it could cause a miscarriage.”
Kawada went as far as assuring the woman saying that his own father was an OB-GYN and that he had experienced pregnancy through his ex-wife.
Kawada at one of their final meetings also accused the woman about lying about taking the iron pills as well as accusing her of setting him up with the pregnancy. He also told her that the pregnancy has caused his mother’s death since she had wanted her to get an abortion and which the woman had not. Kawada had made his desire for her to terminate the pregnancy clear however the woman wanted to keep the baby, citing that she would raise it on her own.
On the day she miscarried, the woman alleges that she got a call from a person saying they were a nurse an encouraged her to take the iron pills. Kawada told the woman he had the medicine she would need and then the alleged fake nurse called her again to ask her to take two more of the pills.
That was the evening, according to the probable cause statement when the woman started experiencing symptoms of a miscarriage; severe cramping and blood discharge. She called back the nurse, but found out the person was not a real nurse as they had earlier claimed.
She then reached out to her family who called authorities the next day. She handed over the pills Kawada had given her.
Reports according to local news said that doctors at the hospital informed the woman that she had suffered from a miscarriage. According to police, Kawada said he had given the woman “vitamin C and iron pills that I ordered off Amazon.”
But according to investigators, Kawada’s phone revealed he had made calls to a pharmacy that sold misoprostol following the woman’s first ultrasound appointment. He had also made calls to the same number of the ‘fake nurse’ and his search history revealed searches for, “misoprostol dissolved,” “9 week aborted fetus pics” and “no reaction to misoprostol.”
Kawada was arrested last Friday on charges ofwith poisoning, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a pregnant person and assault and battery on a household or family member. His bail has been set at a $100,000 and he has pleaded not guilty to the court.
His lawyer, Dmitry Lev, said to the media, “We look forward to a full and complete investigation and a fair trial in front of our jury.” Watch the video here.