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

[FacelessPodcast]

@FacelessPodcast

I've just finished listening to your podcast and want to congratulate you on a job well done!

As you were discussing the skaters in the episode "Four Wheels," I couldn't shake the feeling that the killer might have been *disguised* as a skater. And sure enough, you suggested the idea yourself on the podcast.

Looking at the pictures of the killer's outfit I've always thought it looked slightly "off," and now I realise it looks too perfect. Like someone's idea of what a skater might wear, not necessarily what they actually would. What better way to go unnoticed than to blend in with what people are expecting to see. But that would definitely suggest this was more of a planned hit.

I was also interested to learn there's no definitive proof of where the killer entered or left the house. I would have expected the shoes to be bloody, and whether leaving by the front door or the bathroom, he would have had to walk through blood to get there. The fact that there is seemingly no blood around any of the potential exit points is puzzling.

On one hand, this killer seems to be inexperienced and to have made many mistakes. On the other, they've somehow done *everything* right to get away with it.

You're very kind! Thank you so much for listening

And you hit the nail on the head. He's at once a novice and Jason Bourne at the same time...

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Earlier, a member raised the possibility of a student failing the crucial final exams- then blaming the tutor. A foreign student would not only have the standard shame from failing, but would be able to disappear from Japan and have less record of being in Japan. But.... are foreign students also finger printed by Japanese immigration authorities?

Though I can understand that there are different definitions of 'alertness', US base guards are usually alert by any definition to anything unusual.

It would be nice to think that this level of alertness is motivated solely by the 9-11 terror attacks. But... the alertness is probably more closely linked to the Base Commander's career advancement.

Base Commanders hate surprises and hate bad news regarding the activities of US servicemen and dependents. People returning bloody can indicate bad news. Too much bad news from the base can lead to the Base Commander being fired.

So, they very carefully instruct base guards to be alert for anything that could indicate bad news. This is especially so with over seas bases where the US presence is not popular with locals.

Bloody people returning to US bases would likely be noticed and questioned. A dependent with his father maybe be questioned less, but he would still be noticed. If his answers were obviously deceptive, a follow on investigation could be done.

As I understand it, all foreigners living in Japan declare themselves at local police station including prints. This may not apply to those under 18, of course. My problem with the student angle -- the TMPD looked at this hard and got nothing from it. How does the killer hide in this? They would have to massively overlook him. He's got hand injuries, after all. Especially if he's foreign. The TMPD would have to be massively inept the first time round. But to then overlook it for the next 23 years too?

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I agree. Though there is the possibility that the DNA tests suggesting a European ancestor were misinterpreted by Japanese researchers, I agree with you that any mixture of ethnicity would be Asian "heavy".

The knife salesman evidently did not notice any strong indicators that the perpetrator was mixed ethnicity, nor an obvious foreign accent, speaking in broken Japanese etc.

As a side note, previous generation(s) mixed marriages and out of wedlock births from the US military presence and the former British, French, Dutch colonial presence can easily lead to people who today are citizens of Asian countries and are 75% or 88% Asian and only 25% to 12% European (or less)- thus European features would not be very noticeable.

Without going into too much detail, the knife salesman has not seen the killer. It was picked up in a nearby supermarket if we're talking about the same thing. That consumer was very recently identified. Not the killer. It's even possible the killer came with no knife and it belonged to Mikio. We just don't know.

RE: the killer's DNA. I've spoken about this ad nauseam throughout the thread. In a nutshell, we simply don't know and the TMPD won't discuss it for various reasons, chiefly that there is no legal framework for investigating this in Japan beyond matching a killer to the offender database. As such, as they won't share his dna, this topic is really almost moot. If it DOES stand true that his genetic markers are found in 1 in 4 Koreans but only 1 in 13 or 14 Japanese, those aren't bad odds pointing to Korea. Yet the TMPD assures that Seoul counterparts ruled him out of the national fingerprint database. That includes permanent residents and all visitors. So, where in this world would point to a place where someone could be ethnically Korean but not have the nationality. Well, as Charlot says, anywhere. But if we're going by likelihood, I would start with America. Specifically, Southern California, whether Edwards AFB is incidentally. Maybe coincidence, maybe not. For now, I have to take what has been said about the case as a given until the TMPD dispel it.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Reading further on the thread I see that the soundproofing on the house was very poor, and @FacelessPodcast's investigators found it was largely useless. In that case the information in my previous post is relevant to the overall topic of soundproofing, but probably doesn't really apply to the Miyazawa home.

Saving face is very important in Japan; if neighbours did in fact hear something, they could either deny it, or they would have to admit they heard something and did nothing--which would be very shameful, if not outright suspicious.

I can't get too deeply into this as it pertains to Ann Irie and her family who were all right next door at the time of the murders. But I will say this:

The TMPD did detailed experiments on sounds. And as I understand it, the fact that a ladder can be heard but that in all the violent, almost unhinged stabbings, not one single other peep was heard? That sounds like it was a problem for investigators.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I think it absolutely could be a scar, especially with it showing up in other pictures of the same man.

But I notice it's the left hand, which doesn't seem to match what was thought about the killer cutting his right?

I think it's almost certain both hands were injured and are now scarred

 

[FacelessPodcast]

There are other photos in subsequent posts to the one I quoted:

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

I'm guessing most people will think it's a scar. To me (attachment, in which I've edited the contrast curves) it looks more like lower blood due to compression--something like firmly pushing a button and the tip of one's finger goes pale. That thing you've circled looks (JMO) like part of a...

www.websleuths.com

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

The DNA limitations are definitely frustrating, New York I’ve learned from following LISK case(s) has restrictions in using genealogy databases due to concerns of privacy issues, I’m afraid that other states may follow. This resource likely surprised everyone, not having regulations established...

www.websleuths.com

I probably shouldn't have posted these photos in the first place but I said what I said about them. I'm only using my own limited experience on scarring but from my own bladed/slicing scars on my body, that almost flat, silvery almost-too-perfect quality is showing on this man's hands in the same way it does on me.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I’ve been reading back in the thread. I think there’s something very wrong in this case. Either that, or there are cultural issues I just don’t understand.

Let’s just contemplate this for a moment: Your sister’s entire family, including two small children, has been murdered in the most brutal and vicious way, and you don’t want DNA collected at the crime scene to be used to find the killer.

What could be so awful that would override putting the killer away?

I probably shouldn't say this but they also refused to speak with me multiple times for Faceless despite many, many promises and explanations. That's of course their right and I don't suggest it's suspicious but it just doesn't jive with her previous appeals that she wants this solved no matter what. I am bringing an unknown case outside of Japan to the English-speaking world which makes the killer's world that little bit smaller.

She has issues with the media and has litigated against a major TV channel in Japan regarding their use of an American profiler who suggested the killer was either family or connected to the family. (I think they made it seem like she was agreeing with him in the show via editing). However, I was willing to give final sign-off on what we recorded and discussed. She told us to kick rocks. For those that have heard the podcast, I let you decide whether or not we eroticised these murders or exploited that grief for the purpose of a good story. Again, I accuse her of nothing. I repeat only that there are questions here she could answer and she does not. That's her right and I respect it. I will add only that if my family were murdered, I would be doing anything I could to bring justice for them. That includes engaging with media.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I really can't shake the wounds to Mikio's legs and buttocks. To me that screams of being attacked on the stairs by someone standing *below* him, stabbing upwards. That doesn't mean the killer wasn't above Mikio for most of the confrontation, but at some point I feel Mikio was trying to get away up the stairs and the killer was chasing him.

If Rei being killed first is a definite, unmovable fact, I do wonder if the killer could have gone downstairs to confront Mikio rather than Mikio coming upstairs to confront the killer.

ETA: Is there any chance at all that Mikio made it as far as the loft ladder, and was trying to climb up to Yasuko and Niina as the killer stabbed at his legs?

Answered this already earlier on, I think.

For me, Mikio never runs. As far as he knows, he's trying to stop that killer getting to his son in bed. He would be dead seconds later before he ever knew what happened to Rei.

And if the killer went down to confront Mikio, he would then have had to chase to the killer back up the stairs only to be stabbed on them, and then fall back down again. Doesn't scan for me.

ETA: according to the TMPD, no, there is no chance.

 

[fridaybaker]

Taking this from an post upthread (sorry, can't remember whose right now):

"I think they likely have antisocial PD and are cocky beyond measure IMO!!" That last part would certainly fit with the son of a guy who is "high up in the USAF".

 

[FacelessPodcast]

I think the attack on Mikio starting downstairs, and him trying to escape up the stairs, is not just possible but is the most likely scenario. And I don’t see why it wouldn’t have been possible for him to have made it to the ladder.

I am not sure that Rei being killed first is unmovable - for me it depends on the wounds to the killers hands. If he did in fact have cuts on BOTH hands then I can’t see another scenario, but if it’s just one then it’s conceivable (though unlikely) that he was killed last.

I can't tell you 1000% both hands were injured. Only that he injured his primary hand pretty badly. Seems highly likely he would switch to his good hand rather than just keeping on despite a bad injury...

 

[fridaybaker]

If the perp was able to staunch the bleeding of his hands during the possibly-considerable time he remained in the house, and given that it was winter, could he have removed the bulky gauze and pads and wrapped his injured hands more lightly, and then wore winter gloves to hide any injury, to pass through the gates into the base?

Had an extra pair of light gloves with him? Staunched the bleeding at the house for a while, then put on the clean (dark colored) gloves for the short drive home. I can see a guard at the gate of the base not noticing anything.

Sorry, I should read through the posts before posting. I see it's been mentioned up-thread.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Potential hate crime?

potentially, yes, very much so. Whether or not racially-motivated, impossible to know. Though, if the killer hated the Japanese, then he was living in the wrong country, it seems...

 

[FacelessPodcast]

would love to know who this POI is if someone could message me?

I could, but then I'd have to kill you

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Thank you for responding.

I'm sorry if I've missed this, but was Rei "strangled" as in hands or a rope around the neck, or could he have been smothered by having his face pushed down into the mattress? I've not sure I've seen those specifics anywhere.

I totally agree that Mikio was attacked from above. The defensive wounds to his hands, the head wounds, the fatal wound all seem to support that. I just wonder if there was ever a point in the confrontation where the killer was below Mikio, or at the very least at his feet. I believe it was said the leg wounds are angled upwards, and I'm struggling to picture how that would happen with the killer above Mikio on the stairs.

He was strangled bare hands, face-down. That's my understanding.

 

[dub]

I can't tell you 1000% both hands were injured. Only that he injured his primary hand pretty badly. Seems highly likely he would switch to his good hand rather than just keeping on despite a bad injury...

Gotcha. I hadn’t heard about the second hand until very recently, so wasn’t positive that was a sure thing.

 

[fridaybaker]

Wait: Who lived next door again? The mother, sister and her husband. And teenage son? Am I remembering that right?

 

[FacelessPodcast]

@FacelessPodcast, could the perpetrator be still let in?

We don’t know for 100% if he was not known to either the family, or Mikio, after all. I was thinking, maybe they did share some interests. I am coming to understand what kind of a person Mikio must have been: a nerdy, artistic genius, probably? Could he have not felt the danger of a young person? Highly likely, especially if they shared a hobby. And if the perpetrator had the same personality type, slightly shy, bright and quiet, such people, ironically, do great in “parallel play” because they lack interactive skills. Sitting together side by side, working at something (models? Or some theatric work - the guy did open the theater tab, right?), then Mikio might have felt the man was his “friend”.

If (and I believe it) Rei reminded the perp of himself at such an age, he might have felt slightly sorry for the kid, although he probably couldn’t put the feelings into words.

Also, people discussing the murders in other languages asked one reasonable question, how much do we know about the premarital past of the parents? And could Yasuko, an attractive woman, be the primary target of the perp? I was surprised how many people think the perp was targeting one of the parents, not the kids. But, reasonable questions.

Everyone thought that Mikio, a brave man, was overpowered fast, and everyone thought that the perp had strong hands and upper torso.

My question: if you think the perp visited Mojave desert, do you think it is possible that he killed and buried someone there?

I cannot discount the possibility Mikio let him in. But we know it was after 10:38pm on a night when his daughter was sick and, from all the experience I have in Japan, house visits between friends are not super common. To let such a man into his home to go upstairs and use his bathroom or whatever as a pretext? I don't know, it's hard to visualise.

Can I completely discount the killer knocking on the door and then knocking Mikio out to rush upstairs and take the risk of strangling Rei while Mikio recovered? No. But then I would imagine such a head injury might be noted. Also, why would the killer take such a risk? But the one major problem with this: if Mikio knew him well enough to let him upstairs where his children were late at night, then they're close on some level. And my belief is that the TMPD would have caught him. I can assure you, for all the mistakes the TMPD may or may not have made, the Chief is a shrewd man. He is no fool. Such a close relationship, I don't think it would have eluded him.

My belief is that this killer got away with it precisely because there was no such connection. He's praying that it will be enough to walk away from the Miyazawas forever. I do not pray, but I hope for the alternative of this.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Very good idea, friday. I don't have the money to look into this right now but hopefully once the podcast is commissioned, we could look into something like this.

Nothing has come out of it so far.

If you're allowed to do so, you should probably post the image/logo here on Websleuths. I'm sure there are people who could help.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Alvaro Obrégon, a very capable leader, and there is a city that bears his name, and an airport, too. He was of the same material as Ataturk, a capable politician and military leader, every country needs such people. Not knowing him would be probably so strange for Mexicans as if here, someone halts at pronouncing Lincoln, or Kennedy.

But I know your name, so I googled your books, and shall buy one. Maybe not about the Setagaya yet, because you probably have new material, but I found another interesting one. ))

You are a star, Charlot! I very much hope you enjoy it. It's no War & Peace...

 

[FacelessPodcast]

Had an extra pair of light gloves with him? Staunched the bleeding at the house for a while, then put on the clean (dark colored) gloves for the short drive home. I can see a guard at the gate of the base not noticing anything.

Sorry, I should read through the posts before posting. I see it's been mentioned up-thread.

Of course possible but hard to imagine?

If he had the forethought to bring two pairs of gloves in case of injury while stabbing, then he IS Jason Bourne.