Japan - Miyazawa family of 4 murdered, Setagaya, Tokyo, 30 Dec 2000 #2

[Sillybilly]

Mikio Miyazawa 44, wife Yasuko 41, Niina 8, and Rei 6

"All four were brutally murdered on December 30, 2000 in a crime that shocked Japan and began a grim new chapter in the country's criminal history.

Police know so much about the killer — everything except who he is and why he committed such a violent crime.

He left his DNA everywhere.
He left clothes at the scene.
He left the murder weapon.
He used the victims' computer.
He ate at least four ice creams from their freezer.
And he stayed inside the house for hours as the family lay dead.

Almost 250,000 investigators have worked on this case, receiving more than 15,000 tip-offs from the public.

But nearly two decades later, officers are seemingly no closer to solving a crime that is extremely rare in this largely peaceful country.

[...]"

Please welcome our new verified Websleuths member, FacelessPodcast, a published author who is researching and producing a podcast on NBC Universal about this horrific, unsolved crime. Hopefully some day the brutal killer of this family can be caught and brought to justice.

If FacelessPodcast wishes to share their personal identity, we'll leave it to them to do so.

Thank you to everyone for being here to discuss this case and hopefully help catch this killer. It's been far too long.

Thread #1

 

[Sillybilly]

As a Verified Author who is familiar with this case, FacelessPodcast is not required to provide links to what they state about their knowledge of this case.

As always, please treat our Verified member with respect at all times. Of course you may ask questions, but if you disagree with something they have to contribute, please don't argue with them or challenge them. Just remain the polite, respectful bunch that we know you to be

ETA: For sleuthing purposes, this case is referred to as both the Miyazawa family murders and the Setagaya family murders.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Hello everyone! My name is Nic, a crime fiction author, and it’s so nice to be part of WS. I’m here, with great respect and humility, because I’m hoping to lean on the WS community for your ideas and expertise.

While I have no direct relation to the Miyazawa Family, since first learning about their murders more than 10 years ago, they’ve always haunted me. That’s why I’m producing a (major network) podcast about this case which will be released towards the end of 2022. (For those that are wondering, yes, I am in contact with the relatives). I’ll soon post a detailed breakdown of the murders and hopefully you’ll see why I find it so haunting. The goal of my podcast is to bring the perpetrator to justice in any way, shape, or form; or at least, 22 years later after their murders, to help the Miyazawas reach a wider public consciousness in the hope of achieving the above.

I would be more than delighted to answer any questions to kick over any ideas that you guys have. (If there’s anything I’ve left off the case breakdown, it’ll most likely because I’ve simply forgotten it. But it also might be the case that there’s something that I can’t talk about – if that happens, I’ll say so). One of the most puzzling things about this case is that, on the one hand, we know so much about the killer and what happened that night. He left behind over 16,000 pieces of evidence. But on the other, there’s never been a single arrest, official suspect, or even a clear working theory. Lastly, while I know that it goes without saying here on WS, I do just want to say: ultimately, for me, this case isn’t about the killer. It’s about giving answers to the relatives of the Miyazawa Family.

Thank you all for reading.

Warmly,
Nic

 

[MadMcGoo]

Continue the discussion here.

 

[dotr]

I.C.K.
Ice Cream Killer?
rbbm.

Japan offers US$200k for help solving Setagaya murders, 20 years on

The Miyazawa family were slaughtered in their home on New Year’s Eve 2000 in a case that shocked the nation, but despite the killer leaving a host of clues, nobody has ever been arrested.

www.scmp.com

Julian Ryall 2020
“It was a combination of things that caught the attention of the public and the media, including the killings taking place on New Year’s Eve, which is meant to be a time of peace and families being together,” he told the South China Morning Post.''

''Instead of taking cash or other valuables that were in the house, however, the assailant helped himself to food from the freezer, took a nap on the living room sofa and used the family computer.''

The attacker’s shoes may hold a key to his identity. Photo: Handout

 

[Charlot123]

I assume one doesn't need to be born in the US to serve on a military base, even abroad. Being a citizen is important. But, the irony, the father could have been born in Korea or Japan, or even born in Korea and worked in Japan before relocating to the US, becoming a citizen and finding a job in the army. Especially a civilian job. There are moments when there is a dire need of certain civilians in the army. So the father could have lived in Japan, and good knowledge of Japanese could be the reason the boy had certain knowledge, and probably, not cursory, of the language.

Religious part is important. For some reason, it is easier for me to imagine the father being a Christian than a Shinto/Buddhist. Because in Buddhism or syncretic Shinto/Buddhism, the concept of karma is important. The murderer had no awareness of it then, and JMO, now as well. I think that Jizo Buddhist figure was not left by him.

 

[lilykaluva]

I assume one doesn't need to be born in the US to serve on a military base, even abroad. Being a citizen is important. But, the irony, the father could have been born in Korea or Japan, or even born in Korea and worked in Japan before relocating to the US, becoming a citizen and finding a job in the army. Especially a civilian job. There are moments when there is a dire need of certain civilians in the army. So the father could have lived in Japan, and good knowledge of Japanese could be the reason the boy had certain knowledge, and probably, not cursory, of the language.

Religious part is important. For some reason, it is easier for me to imagine the father being a Christian than a Shinto/Buddhist. Because in Buddhism or syncretic Shinto/Buddhism, the concept of karma is important. The murderer had no awareness of it then, and JMO, now as well. I think that Jizo Buddhist figure was not left by him.

Unless he's angry at his father and resentful of his father's religion but can't counter him (whether from fear or from a paradoxical desire to still please his dad or both). I almost wonder if he wants his dad to choose him for once instead of the military or God and so in a messed up way, if his dad suspected anything, it would be a way of forcing him to decide whether to protect him or choose his career or religion over him too. Leaving the statue could be a way of dealing with feelings like "okay, he chose me, but nothing is actually fixed by what I did."

Obvs I doubt any teenager was capable of like, thinking rationally or like this about it, but I dunno, I was raised in a fundie house and a lot of kids did tend to act out (I resented my parents always saying they'd choose me being murdered in front of them over them denying God; it was a weirdly frequent topic of conversation). Though granted the acting out wasn't murder and tended to be more typical teenage things. I've also worked with teenage offenders before and, while religion wasn't the focus here, one of them definitely kept escalating his (violent) behaviors in an attempt to get his dad's attention even if he never seemed to realize it. His dad was very Important and was able to protect him through the first... double-digits number of offenses. When he finally crossed the line into "dad can't bail you out," I just remember him crying, "Dad, look at me. Dad please look at me." His father did not look at him.

I realize this is wild speculation and borderline fiction about the psychology of someone I know nothing about besides religion and military, who may not even be the POI, and whether any offender left the Jizo statue can't be known. But if, if, I could see this kind of twisted desperation. But if it was a kid, logic probably is twisted at best, and I can see how a perfect storm of circumstances like extreme religion and a military context could lead to this. Granted, it's extreme, but.

 

[acutename]

I avoided reading about this before yesterday because it seemed old/grim/foreign.... so now I have taken a crash course, and it is all of those.

About the noise aspect- nothing heard next door- I wonder if the family next door did hear something but thought it was a family argument or the little boy jumping around or something possibly embarrassing but not lethal. Maybe with the supposed sound proofing, they had been (politely) encouraged to butt out and then this.... Another possibility I think of is the attacker threatening- "no sound or this will be worse," and of course it could not have been worse, but the individual victims might not have known that at the time- maybe thought they were saving someone else. Last thought: did either family have a TV? Maybe a loud movie would have masked a lot of sound.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Going to reply to the last few posts on the previous thread which I didn't get a chance to. Have no idea if there's any way to correctly migrate them however...

 

[FacelessPodcast]

"Anyway, onto my mistake. A direct family member or friend of the victim not wanting to talk isn’t suspicious. Them rejecting an offer for financial help to process evidence isn’t suspicious. Them not clearing up statements to the public that cast a shadow of suspicion on them is in itself not suspicious.
When I attempted to speak to friends related to the victim in the crime I mentioned, I could not grasp why they wouldn’t want to talk to me. Beyond the crime, I wanted to give the victim a voice and show who she was, and no one would talk about her. Why wouldn’t best friends want the world to know how great of a person she was? Why wouldn’t someone want to clear the air of any suspicion towards them?

The one friend who I did speak with a few times laid it out pretty well. Talking about it hurts. Thinking about it hurts. Even with an opportunity to lend a hand and potentially solve the crime, it’s just too painful.

And that’s really it. Could Yasuko’s sister open the house for DNA collection and have it be analyzed overseas, and potentially locate a suspect? Absolutely, and that would be fantastic. Is it at all weird that she won’t? No. Some family and friends need to accept what happened in order to deal with it. They don’t let their minds return, they don’t want to get their hopes up by the promise of help from others. Clearing up anything that the public, such as us, may think is suspicious about them will do nothing but drag them back into a place they never want to be again. I'm absolutely sure they want the crime solved, but I’m also sure they want to think about it as little as possible."

I appreciate your sentiments here @FrankyCentaur. With absolutely no disrespect intended, there are a few things here I have to take issue with. It's not as simple as respecting Ann's need for privacy or not wanting to talk about it. Those things are fundamentals and I hope you'll give me enough credit to not assume I don't like her because she turned down interviews several times. I wouldn't afford the greatest respect to the Miyazawa family but then not extend it to her.

Firstly, there things in this particular situation that I've not been able to share publicly. I apologise for the vagueness of this, I just want to make it clear that I'm not simply 'suspicious' of her because she wouldn't speak to me for the podcast. Secondly, with respect, you are wrong about her not wanting to speak about the case. She has authored books. She lectures on surviving grief re: this case. She invited the assembled national press into the Miyazawa's house in order to talk about this case in full view of the nation. In that instance, she made it clear she wanted this case to be solved no matter what. Whether she speaks to me or not is immaterial. What is not immaterial is that there may still be traces of the killer's DNA in that empty house which could be sent off privately for testing to find out more about him. This is something unavailable to the TMPD for legal reasons but not her. What is not immaterial is that beyond the TMPD, there are other avenues to catching the murderer if he has, indeed, left Japan.

I have nothing but sympathy for her personally and I respect her a great deal. The fact remains, some of the actions here do not make sense. And I say that without any judgement or expectation on how someone ought to survive horror.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Unless he's angry at his father and resentful of his father's religion but can't counter him (whether from fear or from a paradoxical desire to still please his dad or both). I almost wonder if he wants his dad to choose him for once instead of the military or God and so in a messed up way, if his dad suspected anything, it would be a way of forcing him to decide whether to protect him or choose his career or religion over him too. Leaving the statue could be a way of dealing with feelings like "okay, he chose me, but nothing is actually fixed by what I did."

Obvs I doubt any teenager was capable of like, thinking rationally or like this about it, but I dunno, I was raised in a fundie house and a lot of kids did tend to act out (I resented my parents always saying they'd choose me being murdered in front of them over them denying God; it was a weirdly frequent topic of conversation). Though granted the acting out wasn't murder and tended to be more typical teenage things. I've also worked with teenage offenders before and, while religion wasn't the focus here, one of them definitely kept escalating his (violent) behaviors in an attempt to get his dad's attention even if he never seemed to realize it. His dad was very Important and was able to protect him through the first... double-digits number of offenses. When he finally crossed the line into "dad can't bail you out," I just remember him crying, "Dad, look at me. Dad please look at me." His father did not look at him.

I realize this is wild speculation and borderline fiction about the psychology of someone I know nothing about besides religion and military, who may not even be the POI, and whether any offender left the Jizo statue can't be known. But if, if, I could see this kind of twisted desperation. But if it was a kid, logic probably is twisted at best, and I can see how a perfect storm of circumstances like extreme religion and a military context could lead to this. Granted, it's extreme, but.

That's so sad about what your parents said, Lily. Without turning this into a theological debate, from my own personal experiences of religion/family, even as a child it scared me how fervent beliefs could drive good people to say the cruellest of things without any kind of recourse. That's not even a criticism of faith, just of the things said in its name.

Funnily enough, my POI IS from a devoutly religious background. Obviously, military too. Two forms of supplication. As for the jizo statue, if it WAS left by the killer, it wasn't left by my POI as he had left Japan by then.

 

[dotr]

Going to reply to the last few posts on the previous thread which I didn't get a chance to. Have no idea if there's any way to correctly migrate them however...

Go to whichever post you want, - click on the(small) #number at the top right of that post, your computer screen will then show the link to that particular post, which can then be copy/pasted here on this thread.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I avoided reading about this before yesterday because it seemed old/grim/foreign.... so now I have taken a crash course, and it is all of those.

About the noise aspect- nothing heard next door- I wonder if the family next door did hear something but thought it was a family argument or the little boy jumping around or something possibly embarrassing but not lethal. Maybe with the supposed sound proofing, they had been (politely) encouraged to butt out and then this.... Another possibility I think of is the attacker threatening- "no sound or this will be worse," and of course it could not have been worse, but the individual victims might not have known that at the time- maybe thought they were saving someone else. Last thought: did either family have a TV? Maybe a loud movie would have masked a lot of sound.

I assume both families had a TV. For me, the sound thing could be very easily explained away. The issue is, it just never has been. I always go back to them hearing the one isolated bang of the ladder being folded back up into place but hearing nothing else.

I wonder if in their testimony the answers were actually more akin to your scenario: yes, we heard loud voices but we thought it was bickering / the TV etc. As opposed to, we heard nothing except for one loud bang.

 

[sunflowermomma]

I wonder if the neighbors were used to noise due to the skate park so close by? I've lived next to a daycare before and became very good at tuning out screams/shouts/playground noises.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I wonder if the neighbors were used to noise due to the skate park so close by? I've lived next to a daycare before and became very good at tuning out screams/shouts/playground noises.

It's a good thought but the distances between the house and the skate park are just too different. The Miyazawa house pressed up literally right next to Ann Irie's house whereas the skate park was across the way. From the snooping my sound guys did at the house, it definitely seems as if any screams etc should have been very distinctly audible between the two houses (assuming they were any)...

 

[fridaybaker]

dotr: The Ice Cream Killer! Wow. That's the best one yet. At least for an American audience. They will eat it up. (No pun intended!) A Japanese audience, however? Not sure.

 

[fridaybaker]

Regarding the statue, I believe it was left around a half of a mile away or thereabouts. I can't see the connection. Why would someone leave a statue so far away? (I suppose the killer could have left it at the house or close-by and it somehow ended up further away when it was finally noticed.) Why, though, would the killer leave it anyway?

I could maybe see a family member of the killer leaving it. It's just hard to wrap my mind around the slaughter inside that house on the one hand and leaving the statue on the other.

I've pretty much dismissed it as having anything to do with the case, though.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Regarding the statue, I believe it was left around a half of a mile away or thereabouts. I can't see the connection. Why would someone leave a statue so far away? (I suppose the killer could have left it at the house or close-by and it somehow ended up further away when it was finally noticed.) Why, though, would the killer leave it anyway?

I could maybe see a family member of the killer leaving it. It's just hard to wrap my mind around the slaughter inside that house on the one hand and leaving the statue on the other.

I've pretty much dismissed it as having anything to do with the case, though.

I always thought it was left nearby, on the other side of the canal. I'm actually not sure on this point! Japanese speakers, does this page shed light on it? https://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/jiken_jiko/ichiran/ichiran_11-20/seijo.files/jizo_jp.pdf

At any rate, so many of the actions of the killer inside the house make it hard to picture him carrying out this almost tender gesture (ignoring the risk of returning to the area too). But I suppose people have changes of heart...

 

[fridaybaker]

Nic, not sure I understand this: "Funnily enough, my POI IS from a devoutly religious background. Obviously, military too. Two forms of supplication."

Supplication?

 

[fridaybaker]

Looking at those shoes again, I have to think that if anyone had seen the photos of them put out by LE, any close associate of the killer would make the connection. Unless he bought a shoe specifically for committing the crime, and bought a brand he doesn't normally wear, of course. They're distinctive, though. Even among a young group who would maybe normally wear them I'd think there'd be a connection made.