Japan - Miyazawa family of 4 murdered, Setagaya, Tokyo, 30 Dec 2000 #3

[SteveL]

Interesting that the yearbook search doesn’t ask for the 2001 yearbook. I wonder why.

I wonder if this is intentional. There's a couple individuals in the 2000 yearbook that match several characteristics of the killer. A common theory is that soon after the murders, the killer moved out of the country. In my opinion, being able to compare if a person was in the 2000, but not the 2001 may be a helpful clue.

Note how the 2001 version is the only one missing from 1974-2000.

Yearbooks - American Overseas Schools Historical Society

AOSHS's yearbooks allow former overseas schools' students, BRATS, & educators locate former fellow students or teachers & relive their experience online!

aoshs.org

 

[SteveL]

Is Daniel the only child or the youngest child in the family?

My opinion is that personality traits suggest the youngest son, probably bullied by his older brother. Even at a basic level, this seems like a logical profile. Maybe explains the manner, method, timing, etc. of Rei being killed??

 

[Charlot123]

My opinion is that personality traits suggest the youngest son, probably bullied by his older brother. Even at a basic level, this seems like a logical profile. Maybe explains the manner, method, timing, etc. of Rei being killed??

The son of a contractor living off-base and basically, leading a normal Japanese lifestyle, perhaps being somewhat isolated from the base kids, can not be excluded. MOO - the perpetrator really doesn’t stand out in Japanese crowd at all. 175 would be taller than average in Japan. It is all in the food, and “taller” doesn’t mean “healthier”, btw. However, I’d like to know if meat is delivered from US to the base, or bought locally. If he lives typical Japanese life and eats local food, and is a teenager, he’d probably stand out being 175 cm and slim. My feeling is, that to be successful, he has to be like everyone else around, as he has to have an idea about the house. Either be Yasuko’s student, or attending the park, or maybe, moonlighting as a temp mailman? A kid going to middle school next to Nina’s perhaps. Also, were there only two houses staying in a Setagaya park, or more by the time of the murders?

Also: we have huge sales here. My husband had a habit, having found good sneakers for the kid, to buy them in several available sizes. Do you think it could be true for the perp, and he could easier wear a slightly bigger size? This I can’t exclude. Would slaezengers be available in the US or UK, too?

 

[MesquiteO21]

Interesting that the yearbook search doesn’t ask for the 2001 yearbook. I wonder why.

wonder if it's because they believe he would've either graduated by then or moved away/transferred?

 

[MesquiteO21]

Agree. A two year gap. If the lowest age given by TMPD is 15 and they’re looking for 1998-2000 school yearbooks, it basically says to me they suspect he was a high school student at the time of the murders then. It’s not directly saying so… but I think it’s a pretty clear indication.

a high school student committing 4 murders at one time is absolutely insane to me. i wonder if there was another person, but from what we know police are only looking for one suspect correct?

 

[BatataPoha]

I wonder if this is intentional. There's a couple individuals in the 2000 yearbook that match several characteristics of the killer. A common theory is that soon after the murders, the killer moved out of the country.In my opinion, being able to compare if a person was in the 2000, but not the 2001 may be a helpful clue.

Note how the 2001 version is the only one missing from 1974-2000.

Yearbooks - American Overseas Schools Historical Society

AOSHS's yearbooks allow former overseas schools' students, BRATS, & educators locate former fellow students or teachers & relive their experience online!

aoshs.org

Tbf 2003 and 2004 are also missing. I wonder it 9/11 attacks had any role to play for the disruption for the year 2001.

I find it interesting because it narrows the age range of the suspect tremendously in my view, so I wonder how they got to this inference and what led them to this?

Is it an educated guess, but then it seems quite specific? Did they recover the shoes from somewhere nearby? Thats the only real way they can exclude the possibility of the shoes not turning up post 2000 in my view.

 

[BatataPoha]

wonder if it's because they believe he would've either graduated by then or moved away/transferred?

Whatever they have revealed publically doesn’t seem to indicate that conclusively. Their latest estimated age range was 15-25, which can actually run for some more years in the yearbooks.

We don’t know how or on what they are basing that the kid had moved away/ transferred. Unless they found something the public doesn’t know yet.

The search range is quite specific in my view and doesn’t align with what we know so far, so I am just curious what has led them to cast this net in such a specific range.

 

[SteveL]

a high school student committing 4 murders at one time is absolutely insane to me. i wonder if there was another person, but from what we know police are only looking for one suspect correct?

I spoke with a good friend who's a former high school wrestling coach. When I asked him if a fairly skilled wrestler could subdue 4 slightly built people, his reply was "Easily. They could probably take down 4 people built like you." I'm average build.

I'm not saying the killer is neccessarily a wrestler. Just saying with the right skills and mindset, it's definitely possible. As a grown man, I wouldn't stand a chance against a well built teenager. We believe the POI was well built and athletic to be able to climb through the rear window, as commonly suspected.

Per Wikipedia doesn't even require great physical strength:

Blood chokes (or carotid restraints / sleeper holds) are a form of strangulation that compress one or both carotid arteries and/or the jugular veins without compressing the airway, hence causing cerebral ischemia and a temporary hypoxic condition in the brain. A well-applied blood choke may lead to unconsciousness in 10–20 seconds. Injury or death is plausible if the arteries remain constricted for several minutes or more.Compared to strangulation with the hands, properly applied blood chokes require little physical strength.

 

[MesquiteO21]

This situation unbearable to think about. I am very glad, at the least, that there were no reports of that kind of thing against the kids…

But just on ages here, I have noticed that a lot of images used of both Rei and Niina when you read about the case are of them as very young children…
I managed to find the Twitter (that god awful site again…) of Yasuko’s sister Ann, who had more up to date photos of them. You can see that Rei was almost as tall as his sister despite being 2 years younger… it also makes me think how much more determination the killer would have had to strangle him to death given that he doesn’t exactly seem to be a small kid… it would’ve taken a huge amount of effort I feel…

View attachment 518001

people who have done so have confirmed that it does take a lot of work to strangle someone and is harder than you might imagine. iirc i think it takes more time than one might prepare for as unfortunately for the victim it's not a terribly quick process. Pair that with him also killing 3 other people and i kind of suspect he might have been on some type of methamphetamine. Yes teenagers typically have more energy and endurance but killing 4 people is still a lot so i wouldn't be surprised if there was some artificial energy contributing to it.

 

[SteveL]

people who have done so have confirmed that it does take a lot of work to strangle someone and is harder than you might imagine. iirc i think it takes more time than one might prepare for as unfortunately for the victim it's not a terribly quick process. Pair that with him also killing 3 other people and i kind of suspect he might have been on some type of methamphetamine. Yes teenagers typically have more energy and endurance but killing 4 people is still a lot so i wouldn't be surprised if there was some artificial energy contributing to it.

Same wrestling coach told me that some wrestlers can easily render someone unconscious relatively quickly via a choke hold. I recall back in my high school days some of the more bullying wrestlers demonstrating the skill on fellow students.

I have two children similar in age to the victims. When needed, I can easily get a hold of them. From person experiences and the educated opinion of a wrestling coach, a person of the right build and skill set would have no problem. Especially after having taken out Rei before dealing with the other 3 family members.

Per Wikipedia doesn't even require great physical strength:

Blood chokes (or carotid restraints / sleeper holds) are a form of strangulation that compress one or both carotid arteries and/or the jugular veins without compressing the airway, hence causing cerebral ischemia and a temporary hypoxic condition in the brain. A well-applied blood choke may lead to unconsciousness in 10–20 seconds. Injury or death is plausible if the arteries remain constricted for several minutes or more.Compared to strangulation with the hands, properly applied blood chokes require little physical strength.

 

[MesquiteO21]

I spoke with a good friend who's a former high school wrestling coach. When I asked him if a fairly skilled wrestler could subdue 4 slightly built people, his reply was "Easily. They could probably take down 4 people built like you." I'm average build.

I'm not saying the killer is neccessarily a wrestler. Just saying with the right skills and mindset, it's definitely possible. As a grown man, I wouldn't stand a chance against a well built teenager. We believe the POI was well built and athletic to be able to climb through the rear window, as commonly suspected.

i go back and forth on that...definitely i think he had youth on his side as some teenagers are very energetic and athletic and super strong. but it still does take a lot of physical work to kill 4 people...although once adrenaline gets going i'm sure for some teenage boys it's basically hulk mode. i imagine he 'crashed' afterwards and that accounts for the time in the house.

either way, this is a very very frightening individual. and even more confounding if he hasn't committed any subsequent violent crimes. could he be deceased? it's crazy to imagine someone committing a quadruple homicide as a teenager and then go on to live a non-violent life.

 

[TokyoSleuth]

A bit off topic here, but an anecdote that gives weight to the idea that the killer is still in Japan is still a possibility.

Look up the case of Satomi Kitaguchi. A high school girl murdered in her family home while taking an afternoon nap in the middle of the day. Her sister and Grandma actually saw the killer, who also attacked the Grandma. The killer left fingerprints and DNA at the scene, and the sister gave police a detailed description leading to a police sketch and later an e-fit by a former FBI agent. There was also a suspicious black motorbike seen in the area.

Despite all this, it took 13 years to solve. A fight was reported between two construction workers in a nearby area 13 years after the crime. Even though it was over and calm by the time police arrived, they collected fingerprints as a matter of routine. One of the men was a match to the prints left on Satomi's door, and also matched the DNA. If you compare his face to the e-fit, it is almost identical. This man lived nearby for 13 years with the same fingerprints, DNA and face that were being searched for nationwide and lived a reportedly normal life.

Cases like this make me think two things:
A) It is completely plausible for someone to commit these crimes and then never again, allowing them to stay in the area undetected
B) There is still hope that a random chance will lead the suspect to be fingerprinted and matched one day

I'm still very skeptical about the theory surrounding the airbase. Distances and circumstances don't add up for me and there is no physical evidence that links the killer to it, only speculation around the killers genetic makeup and supposed knowledge of military tactics. When it comes to the sanitary pads, I'd postulate that if you were profusely bleeding you would grab anything you could that would soak up blood and sanitary pads would be an obvious option, regardless of first aid or survival knowledge. As far as I can tell, the only facts we have about the sand in the bag are that it is similar to sand found in California. It has not been tested further (that we know of). The sand Nic collected from outside the airbase has not been compared with the sand from the bag, only with another sample from a different area of the same region. Where I used to live in the UK, once a year we would get sand deposits on our driveway that were blown over from the Sahara. So in my mind sand from California being in Japan does not necessitate that the bag ever even went there.

Until coming across cases like the one above, I had also assumed the killer must have targeted them for a while. However, in the above case the killer simply saw Satomi cycling home, followed her, waited outside until he thought she might be asleep, then broke in to attempt to rape her.

However, want to add a big disclaimer that these are all musings based on the information available to all of us, and @FacelessPodcast has more up-to-date information and experience with the case. So Nic, I defer to you on any incorrect assumptions and errors on my part that you have evidence to refute.

 

[Sor Juana]

In a closet, well, sort of....

Daniel lives with father and was born in Los Angeles. The fact that the family was already used to small, expensive condo living made the move to Tokyo easier to contemplate for his father. Tokyo, however, is on another level in this regard.

Daniel's family is also used to the general U.S. convenience of a at least some what larger condo with inside dryer and washer.

Uncle Sam needs US contractors at the base as a lot IT work must be done by US citizens due to security reasons. So.... Uncle Sam uses a local placement agency that guides the contractors towards some recommended and slightly larger apartments.

Apartment size solved- well at least, relatively, the family buys stackable, mini dryer and washer units that are common in LA, NYC, SF, and.... Tokyo. These then go into one of the few closets in the "spacious" by Tokyo standards apartment.

The reason I asked about laundering was that forensic analysis indicated the killer's clothes were washed in hard water. Tokyo, including Yokota, typically has mild to moderate water, as does most of Japan. The nearest area with hard water is in parts of Kanagawa. So, wherever Daniel lives, whether inside or outside the base, he would generally have access to mild to moderate water for laundry. However, if he lives in Kanagawa, his apartment might have hard water.

 

[Sor Juana]

The 1990s saw a shift in South Korea's exports, including consumer goods, to China, which became one of South Korea's major trading partners by the end of the decade (JRI) (World Integrated Trade Solution). Given this trade relationship and the types of goods generally exported, it is plausible that South Korea could have exported Slazenger shoes to China during that time.

 

[Charlot123]

a high school student committing 4 murders at one time is absolutely insane to me. i wonder if there was another person, but from what we know police are only looking for one suspect correct?

This is what I am wondering about.

I always thought that the perpetrator:
1) either had a potential target
2) or, confused the houses
3) or maybe, it was out of rage but somehow, he needed to know/observe the family

What if the situation indeed includes two people?

I don't know about the base, I think it is a red herring because this information has appeared recently, but what if there indeed were two people:

- one watched the house or the inhabitants, or, like @Sor Juana mentioned, all you need is to have minimal information about the inhabitants' habits

Or, there is a lot of information one can get from the park if one merges in with the observers, and really, really, doesn't stand out at all? A mom with kids, or an old guy, anyone.

To get into the house, one has to be slim and lithe and fit
To kill the inhabitants, rather trained (or having the habits of the killer - maybe he enjoys it?)

But what really surprises me is as if the goals differ:

1) - to kill four people. That's our typical case, a SK, a sadist, a torturer... whoever. Half of our traits are about this case

2) the second part is about searching for something. That something is small and has value. It is difficult to trace.

I don't know what it could be. An family heirloom - an award from WWII times? Can be sold on any Axis forum. Or, a piece of jewelry. A jade bracelet now costs a premium, for example. Or, good Japanese pearls? Or, even an old sketch of a Japanese master?

I honestly don't know how and where the TMPD lifted the fingerprints, but I wonder if they, too, could be planted intentionally? The DNA is probably real, because at that time, the murderer could not know the future value of the DNA. The "whorls" might have no value.

I wonder if there was a second person, a "spotter" or a "tipster" that provided the information. The killing was really, to leave no traces.

Why didn't he repeat the murders? Well, perhaps there is no sense in it because they became better at stealing? Nowadays, there is more information online.

I wonder what exactly was taken or what did the pattern of search hinted at? Maybe it is in someone's collection now? Also, what expensive Japanese trinkets could be sold on Ebay soon after?

 

[Sor Juana]

To get into the house, one has to be slim and lithe and fit
To kill the inhabitants, rather trained (or having the habits of the killer - maybe he enjoys it?)

But what really surprises me is as if the goals differ:
1) - to kill four people. That's our typical case, a SK, a sadist, a torturer... whoever. Half of our traits are about this case
2) the second part is about searching for something. That something is small and has value. It is difficult to trace.

I don't know what it could be. An family heirloom - an award from WWII times? Can be sold on any Axis forum. Or, a piece of jewelry. A jade bracelet now costs a premium, for example. Or, good Japanese pearls? Or, even an old sketch of a Japanese master?

I honestly don't know how and where the TMPD lifted the fingerprints, but I wonder if they, too, could be planted intentionally? The DNA is probably real, because at that time, the murderer could not know the future value of the DNA. The "whorls" might have no value.

I wonder if there was a second person, a "spotter" or a "tipster" that provided the information. The killing was really, to leave no traces.

RSBM

Re: the goals, just because of that (motivation), we have at least two, but likely more, profiles of the killer and very different stories constructed according to each goal. Therefore, I think it would be safer to approach this from the other end--the physical evidence, something confirmed and unchanging--and gradually narrow the search space around the goals.

Re: valuables, We don't know if this aspect was investigated or not. Japanese prints can be very expensive, and I believe Mikio would have insured them or other valuables they had. So, the TMPD would have that covered and would know if something was stolen apart from the old jumper. However, it could have been something that wasn’t particularly valuable as a gem but had religious significance for someone. Something small. There were also accounts that an older man was sneaking around the property at some point. If this is all relevant, then we might have a type 2 goal.

Fingerprints were taken from 9 places around the house, as per the links we have in the thread. This is not many, considering the killer was in the house for a long time and murdered 4 people. Could it be that he actually wiped some places and just forgot or overlooked others? If he didn't know much about DNA but made an effort to clean the evidence he was aware of, we might need to factor that in. This wouldn't necessarily be careless behaviour but rather uninformed or forgetful. He didn't want to get caught; he just wasn't effective in his attempts. JMO.

 

[Sor Juana]

My feeling is, that to be successful, he has to be like everyone else around, as he has to have an idea about the house. Either be Yasuko’s student, or attending the park, or maybe, moonlighting as a temp mailman? A kid going to middle school next to Nina’s perhaps. Also, were there only two houses staying in a Setagaya park, or more by the time of the murders?

RSBM. You know, it's a good point. This moonlighter was so close yet practically invisible. Normally, he could do his deliveries in one outfit, but for the attack, he chose to wear a crusher hat, a loose jacket and a bandana made from a handkerchief. I wonder if the police really explored that angle. They probably should have. I mean, tracking deliveries from mailboxes to distributors seems pretty straightforward. Sometimes, if the official moonlighter was sick, they might ask a friend or sibling to fill in, so he could be an unregistered moonlighter. He was familiar with the neighbourhoods and people's habits, but they wouldn't recognise him.

The Dennis Rader case comes to mind. Rader worked as a municipal employee and was active in his community before being arrested for a series of murders in Kansas over several decades. The Richard Ramirez case as well.

 

[Sor Juana]

A bit off topic here, but an anecdote that gives weight to the idea that the killer is still in Japan is still a possibility.

Look up the case of Satomi Kitaguchi. A high school girl murdered in her family home while taking an afternoon nap in the middle of the day. Her sister and Grandma actually saw the killer, who also attacked the Grandma. The killer left fingerprints and DNA at the scene, and the sister gave police a detailed description leading to a police sketch and later an e-fit by a former FBI agent. There was also a suspicious black motorbike seen in the area.

Despite all this, it took 13 years to solve. A fight was reported between two construction workers in a nearby area 13 years after the crime. Even though it was over and calm by the time police arrived, they collected fingerprints as a matter of routine. One of the men was a match to the prints left on Satomi's door, and also matched the DNA. If you compare his face to the e-fit, it is almost identical. This man lived nearby for 13 years with the same fingerprints, DNA and face that were being searched for nationwide and lived a reportedly normal life.

Cases like this make me think two things:
A) It is completely plausible for someone to commit these crimes and then never again, allowing them to stay in the area undetected
B) There is still hope that a random chance will lead the suspect to be fingerprinted and matched one day

RSBM.

One would hope that one day the perpetrator slips up, and his fingerprints or DNA get matched. A recent cold case that was solved is the murder of Irma Palasics (there's a thread about it here on WS). Two burglars repeatedly attacked the Palasics at one location and later at another location. One of them left his DNA on a milk bottle in the fridge. 25 years later, that DNA got a match in a database from another state. This became possible when DNA matching was done nationwide. As a result, one man was arrested, and then another. All this time, both thugs lived seemingly normal lives. They did break the law, of course, but mostly with minor offenses that often went under the police radar--things like petty thefts here and there.

I don't believe the killer, if still alive, has been living a normal life.

 

[Charlot123]

RSBM

Re: the goals, just because of that (motivation), we have at least two, but likely more, profiles of the killer and very different stories constructed according to each goal. Therefore, I think it would be safer to approach this from the other end--the physical evidence, something confirmed and unchanging--and gradually narrow the search space around the goals.

Re: valuables, We don't know if this aspect was investigated or not. Japanese prints can be very expensive, and I believe Mikio would have insured them or other valuables they had. So, the TMPD would have that covered and would know if something was stolen apart from the old jumper. However, it could have been something that wasn’t particularly valuable as a gem but had religious significance for someone. Something small. There were also accounts that an older man was sneaking around the property at some point. If this is all relevant, then we might have a type 2 goal.

Fingerprints were taken from 9 places around the house, as per the links we have in the thread. This is not many, considering the killer was in the house for a long time and murdered 4 people. Could it be that he actually wiped some places and just forgot or overlooked others? If he didn't know much about DNA but made an effort to clean the evidence he was aware of, we might need to factor that in. This wouldn't necessarily be careless behaviour but rather uninformed or forgetful. He didn't want to get caught; he just wasn't effective in his attempts. JMO.

Antoinette Matlin, the famed appraiser's story included an international auction where she was supposed to appraise a 80,000 USD-worth jade beads necklace (it was fake, as she found out). But if prices were like this in the end of the 1990es... I thought of jade because it is so Asian. For a pure Japanese thing, Mikimoto pearls, probably, prices were even higher. Could it be the situation of the Miyazawas deciding to sell something (the value of which they didn't know), and then recanting the idea?

Or, the opposite - Mikio (who looks somewhat frugal with all his books and ledgers) could buy something in a thrift store and later, the thing appraised for much higher.

I can't get off this idea of the murderer looking into two of Yasuko's purses? It would be interesting to find out the principle of his search. They wrote that he searched like professional burglars would.

Also, someone wrote that the murderer could have bought the US army fannypack at the army thrift store? That could be a clue.

I wonder if TMPD looked at all thrift stores where they sold these bags. Maybe the owner knows something. Perhaps Mikio or more likely, Yasuko asked him to appraise something bought elsewhere.

Somewhere in the Internet, I read an article about this case, pointing out that the burglar could not be after something super expensive. He didn’t take all the money - meaning, whatever he was after was definitely more than 1000 dollars. But...how much was worthy to murder for?

I wonder if TMPD checked: 1) thrift store connections
2) a couple - the burglar (killer) and a "spotter"/"tipster" being involved
3) ask An whether her sister was ever in need of money and tried to sell something ASAP

ETA: does anyone from Japan know, if a small, but expensive, Jizo statuette is taken from the house, would a religious person have to replace it with another one? (Jizos were for the children who departed before the parents. That includes miscarriages as well. If among the expensive things taken from the house, someone saw a tiny jizo statue, then someone ruthless, but superstitious, could have replaced it with the large one.)

 

[MesquiteO21]

I spoke with a good friend who's a former high school wrestling coach. When I asked him if a fairly skilled wrestler could subdue 4 slightly built people, his reply was "Easily. They could probably take down 4 people built like you." I'm average build.

I'm not saying the killer is neccessarily a wrestler. Just saying with the right skills and mindset, it's definitely possible. As a grown man, I wouldn't stand a chance against a well built teenager. We believe the POI was well built and athletic to be able to climb through the rear window, as commonly suspected.

Per Wikipedia doesn't even require great physical strength:

Blood chokes (or carotid restraints / sleeper holds) are a form of strangulation that compress one or both carotid arteries and/or the jugular veins without compressing the airway, hence causing cerebral ischemia and a temporary hypoxic condition in the brain. A well-applied blood choke may lead to unconsciousness in 10–20 seconds. Injury or death is plausible if the arteries remain constricted for several minutes or more.Compared to strangulation with the hands, properly applied blood chokes require little physical strength.

the Wikipedia entry says that the perp used his hands to strangle Rei, but that's interesting about blood chokes, i think that could've been used as well