TV presenter Ako Kawada apparently committed suicide Monday by inhaling a lethal amount of toxic carbon monoxide gas, police said.

The 29-year-old freelance presenter's body was found in a car belonging to her talent agency in Tokyo's Minato-ku on Monday morning.

A suicide note addressed to the TV personality's parents was found on the dashboard of the car.

Police said Kawada's note thanked her parents, but did not mention what had been worrying her enough to take her own life. Police said there were traces of burned charcoal found in the vehicle.

Kawada was a native of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. She joined TBS in 2002, but went freelance at the end of March last year. She had worked on several jobs since, including TV Asahi's "Saturday Scramble."

She had recently posted a message on her blog saying how she felt mentally and physically fatigued.

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Story updates
written by soldave , August 18, 2008

There have been a few updates to this story in recent days. Have a look at the article I wrote with the help of a source close to the story:

http://soldave.thedeepstop.com/2008/08/16/exclusive-insight-into-ako-kawada-suicide/

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