74-Year-Old Napa Man Sentenced in Ex-Wife's Stabbing Death

NAPA VALLEY, CA -- A 74-year-old Napa man has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison for the 2014 stabbing murder of his ex-wife.

The sentence was handed down Jan. 24 in Napa County Superior Court.

Shozaburo Nakamura was convicted in December of killing Eiko Nakamura (center in the above photo), his wife of 23 years, in their home on May 31, 2014.

Nakamura stabbed Nakamura, 78, four times in the neck and 21 times in the back, Napa County Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero said.

"It's a just sentence for a defendant who committed a brutal murder on a vulnerable victim," Gero said.

The victim's brother, who lives in Japan, asked the court to give the maximum sentence. The defense asked for probation because of Nakamura's age and lack of a previous criminal record, Gero said.

Eiko Nakamura owned the Fijiya Restaurant at the Napa Premium Outlets for 24 years and founded Eiko's Modern Japanese Cuisine in Napa three years before her death.

Napa police went to her Pinewood Drive house on June 1, 2014, after the victim's friend said she had not heard from her for two days, police said.

Shozaburo Nakamura let police inside the house where he still lived with his ex-wife and admitted killing her around 9 a.m. on May 31 during a dispute. Police found Eiko's body in the bathroom.

Nakamura was sentenced to 25 years to life for first-degree murder and one year for use of a knife.

Bay City News contributed to this report