BEND, Ore. (KOIN 6) — The man accused of sexually assaulting a child under 12 left a detailed letter claiming there were more victims before he committed suicide in his jail cell, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Eben Kaneshiro, the owner of New Breed Jiu Jitsu Academy on SE Foster and 92nd Avenue, was charged with sex abuse and sodomy stemming from an incident that happened overnight on April 18-19 in Deschutes County.
Detectives are broadening their investigation based on the letter discovered.
“As of now we don’t know of any additional victims that have come forward to investigators in Portland, and effectively the criminal case is not going to be moving because he’s deceased,” Sgt. Pete Simpson said.
Kaneshiro was found unresponsive in his cell shortly after 3 a.m on Sunday. The sheriff’s office said he committed suicide by hanging himself with a sheet.
The jail staff had done an inspection within an hour before he was found dead, in accordance with international jail standards. Emergency life saving efforts began immediately, but Kaneshiro did not survive.
In his letter, Kaneshiro reportedly identified where authorities might find other victims.
“He could be referring to victims in a lot of different places,” District Attorney John Hummel said. “What we can focus on is Portland and if there were other people that were victimized by him. Even though he’s taken his own life, we can still connect those people with victim services.”
Sgt. Pete Simpson said while no one has come forward so far, it is typical for sex criminals to victimize more than one child before they’re caught. He said given the places Kaneshiro has been, it’s hard to tell how many victims there might be.