Man Sentenced for Murder of Japanese Wife
CITY NEWS SERVICE
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Chase Devin Bramlage receives 16 years to life for murder of Fukuko Kusakari.

BEVERLY HILLS.-A West Hollywood man convicted of second-degree murder in his wife's stabbing death was sentenced today to 16 years to life in prison, and her family filed a civil lawsuit against him.
 
Chase Devin Bramlage, 29, was convicted in March of the Dec. 2, 2005, slaying of Fukuko Kusakari.
 
Bramlage and his attorney went to the West Hollywood sheriff's station the day she died to report his ``roommate'' had been stabbed in their apartment in the 1200 block of Crescent Heights Boulevard, prosecutors said. Sheriff's deputies went to the apartment and found the 25-year-old woman's body.
 
Bramlage was arrested that night and has remained jailed ever since.
 
Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox sentenced him today.
 
He was sued Wednesday in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by his wife's parents, Yasuhiro and Hiroko Kusakari, and her brother, Kentaro Kusakari, who are seeking unspecified general and punitive damages.
 
According to the lawsuit, Kusakari came to the United States to study three years before her death, fell in love with Bramlage and married him. But by December 2005, the marriage had become strained because Bramlage believed the woman was not worthy of him and did not recognize her as his wife.
  
“He wanted her out of his apartment and his life,” the suit states.

“He had started a relationship with another woman ... he thought his career as an actor was on an upswing. To (Bramlage), his wife was a drag on what he saw as a bright future for himself.”
  
The night before the killing, Bramlage had told a co-worker about his “frustration and anger with his small Asian live-in girlfriend,” the suit states. “He did not acknowledge her as his wife. He called her helpless and lazy.”
  
The weapon Bramlage allegedly used was an eight-inch knife, according to the suit.
  
“He stabbed her in the torso and in the back,”　according to the lawsuit. “There were stabbings on her arms and legs from when she tried in a desperate attempt to stop the knife from plunging into her vital organs.”
  
When a neighbor came after hearing the woman's screams, Bramlage told him his wife had “night terrors” and apologized for the noise, according to the lawsuit.