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…

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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.