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

[TokyoSleuth]

Right, like… if you’re so sure you’re going to be under the cover of darkness for your escape, or you’re local and can make it back home undetected, why leave absolutely everything behind besides your shoes, including your bag? Why go to the trouble of all of that if you’re just around the corner?
To me, it says one of a few things…

1. He had to travel back to where he lived and would likely be seen by some or several people on the way, so he dumped it all in favour of a cleaner appearance to make it back.
2. He was confident that he wouldn’t be found even with the mountain of evidence he left, so he changed and just left it all there. This aligns more with the leaving Japan soon after theory.
3. He didn’t plan for the murder to be as brutal and bloody as it was so had no choice as everything was splashed with or soaked in blood and could leave a trail.

I’m sure there are more points other people could add here that I haven’t thought about…

Since he had a bag, and it wasn’t that small either from what I’ve seen, even if he was going to change out of his clothes… why not pack them in your bag and take them? Why leave them all there? I refer back to my 3 points when I think about this question.

Any other ideas…?

One other option, he woke up after his couch nap and realized it was later/earlier than he wanted, panicked and just got the hell out of there as quick as possible.

Though not sure what he would be panicking about as again, it's not like he was being sneaky sneaky or cared too much about killing people who came across him.

 

[FlowersInBloom]

One other option, he woke up after his couch nap and realized it was later/earlier than he wanted, panicked and just got the hell out of there as quick as possible.

Though not sure what he would be panicking about as again, it's not like he was being sneaky sneaky or cared too much about killing people who came across him.

Right, I believe the nap was speculated upon from previous posts and in dramatisations of the whole event but never confirmed…

Perhaps he just didn’t care and went into the whole thing expecting to be caught anyway? So what the hell, who cares what he leaves behind because he’s for sure going to be caught. I wonder if he maybe had this attitude… and just got extremely, extremely lucky…

I’ve read posts from @Incoherent and now you about it being unlikely he used public transport due to the CCTV and the first trains not starting until around 5am, plus the very noticeable sweater he was speculated to have stolen and worn and the injuries to his hands. He’d stand out to someone surely…

So here I think… if he possibly wasn’t local due to his dumping of clothing and bag for the need to travel and look cleaner, and he didn’t use public transport due to the above, then how did he get home… using a bicycle with injured hands? It would only take him so far… Tokyo is huge. So maybe then a car? Did he drive back home or to the base in a car, or get picked in one…?

 

[TokyoSleuth]

So maybe then a car? Did he drive back home or to the base in a car, or get picked in one…?

My mind tends towards either:
A) He lived local and just went home
B) He drove home

If A, given what I've learned recently from other crimes committed by kids in Japan, it is not impossible for a parent to put two and two together and simply stay quiet about it.

If B, it is doubtful in my mind that he is a teenager. Even today, car ownership in Tokyo is nowhere near what it is in the UK or US. Many people rent a car when they need one, and the concept of buying your child a car is not really a thing, I'm assuming less so in 2000.

 

[FlowersInBloom]

My mind tends towards either:
A) He lived local and just went home
B) He drove home

If A, given what I've learned recently from other crimes committed by kids in Japan, it is not impossible for a parent to put two and two together and simply stay quiet about it.

If B, it is doubtful in my mind that he is a teenager. Even today, car ownership in Tokyo is nowhere near what it is in the UK or US. Many people rent a car when they need one, and the concept of buying your child a car is not really a thing, I'm assuming less so in 2000.

In the case of A, how would he get his injuries tended to without being reported? Or how long did he have to stay inside to not be found by police during the firestorm of events afterwards? Would he need to treat the wounds himself and essentially just not go outdoors during daylight hours for a few months?

As for B, I wonder the rules surrounding this on an US air force base. I’m not from the US but I’ve always seen it to be more common for families to get their children a car in their later teenage years. But I don’t know the rules surrounding this if driving out in Tokyo, or what it would mean about a license etc…

As for your point about parents keeping quiet about their children being involved in crimes I do believe that has happened in this case. I believe someone, at least one person likely in his family, either knows or had huge suspicions and has decided to stay quiet about it…

 

[Charlot123]

Right, I believe the nap was speculated upon from previous posts and in dramatisations of the whole event but never confirmed…

Perhaps he just didn’t care and went into the whole thing expecting to be caught anyway? So what the hell, who cares what he leaves behind because he’s for sure going to be caught. I wonder if he maybe had this attitude… and just got extremely, extremely lucky…

I’ve read posts from @Incoherent and now you about it being unlikely he used public transport due to the CCTV and the first trains not starting until around 5am, plus the very noticeable sweater he was speculated to have stolen and worn and the injuries to his hands. He’d stand out to someone surely…

So here I think… if he possibly wasn’t local due to his dumping of clothing and bag for the need to travel and look cleaner, and he didn’t use public transport due to the above, then how did he get home… using a bicycle with injured hands? It would only take him so far… Tokyo is huge. So maybe then a car? Did he drive back home or to the base in a car, or get picked in one…?

It is not an impossible version. It could be a young woman waiting for him in a car, too. Also, could it be so that he called her to pick him up? I wonder if the woman submitting the tip about a man who jumped in front of her car was ever traced back?

About the sanitary products - I never saw Japanese ones but I am expert on baby diapers from different countries. The Japanese ones are top class, the best of the best both in softness and absorbency. If the same can be said about Japanese feminine products, then I understand why the killer used them. The knowledge would come not from US army but from living in a household with a Japanese mother, sister or girlfriend.

 

[Hausos]

As I have said earlier, he could very well be a rando Japanese instead of a rando military brat.

The only problems are all the stuff he left behind, and his exit from the house becomes even more unclear. He couldn’t have left in the middle of the night if he was planning to use public transport, so presumably he also used a car or something to get away. But if he was gonna use a car, why did he need to drop behind all of his stuff? I don’t think it was pre planned, so why drop stuff like the hip bag?

Its a major sticking point in my view.

It's possible he could have stayed until a time around 5am, and then boarded public transport. I meant to say he just made sure to leave while it's still relatively "dark out".

Unsure why he left all his clothes behind and decided to wear Mikio's clothes. If his clothes had blood stains on them, then maybe that's a reason why. I'm not sure if this was noted in the investigation though. The sand was said to originate from the Mojave Desert or Kanagawa, right? Kanagawa has lots of beaches. Not to mention the other things in his hip bag that originated from around the area. The whole military scenario seems less likely to me, I feel that the TMPD would've probably already checked out the Yokota base, the yearbooks, and even the records of the children who left the base/country after the murders.

I don't think he used a car. I know a witness said they saw a car near the Miyazawa house that night, but I don't think the car is related to the murders.

 

[Hausos]

Since he had a bag, and it wasn’t that small either from what I’ve seen, even if he was going to change out of his clothes… why not pack them in your bag and take them? Why leave them all there? I refer back to my 3 points when I think about this question.

Any other ideas…?

idk the bag doesn't seem big enough to fit all those clothes...?

Picture is of the bag that he had, and the bag seems rather small.

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2022-12/27/15/asset/df4f574a2019/sub-buzz-3305-1672153479-9.png

 

[Hausos]

I've read on some sites that the killer took all of the family's “Happy New Year” greeting cards?
Does anyone know if this is true or not?

 

[FlowersInBloom]

It's possible he could have stayed until a time around 5am, and then boarded public transport. I meant to say he just made sure to leave while it's still relatively "dark out".

Unsure why he left all his clothes behind and decided to wear Mikio's clothes. If his clothes had blood stains on them, then maybe that's a reason why. I'm not sure if this was noted in the investigation though. The sand was said to originate from the Mojave Desert or Kanagawa, right? Kanagawa has lots of beaches. Not to mention the other things in his hip bag that originated from around the area. The whole military scenario seems less likely to me, I feel that the TMPD would've probably already checked out the Yokota base, the yearbooks, and even the records of the children who left the base/country after the murders.

I don't think he used a car. I know a witness said they saw a car near the Miyazawa house that night, but I don't think the car is related to the murders.

Hmm…
It would mean he boarded and travelled on a train, or trains, in central Tokyo wearing a sweater that had the ABC’s written on it, with injured hands that are likely bandaged, and managed to avoid all CCTV and not look suspicious to anyone…
I can appreciate it would be early morning… but there would be people everywhere… it’s Tokyo.
I would say it’s more likely the TMPD checked this method much more throughly and could do so quickly, than approaching and questioning an Air Force base right from the get-go… JMO…

idk the bag doesn't seem big enough to fit all those clothes...?

Picture is of the bag that he had, and the bag seems rather small.

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2022-12/27/15/asset/df4f574a2019/sub-buzz-3305-1672153479-9.png

The size of the bag in some images is deceiving but it was in fact sizeable… I think he could have rolled up the clothing and stuffed it in there potentially considering it was all light weight fabric. It looks smaller because the killers waist was very small and the belt was tightened.

 

[TokyoSleuth]

About the sanitary products - I never saw Japanese ones but I a

Hmm…
It would mean he boarded and travelled on a train, or trains, in central Tokyo wearing a sweater that had the ABC’s written on it, with injured hands that are likely bandaged, and managed to avoid all CCTV and not look suspicious to anyone…
I can appreciate it would be early morning… but there would be people everywhere… it’s Tokyo.
I would say it’s more likely the TMPD checked this method much more throughly and could do so quickly, than approaching and questioning an Air Force base right from the get-go… JMO…


The size of the bag in some images is deceiving but it was in fact sizeable… I think he could have rolled up the clothing and stuffed it in there potentially considering it was all light weight fabric. It looks smaller because the killers waist was very small and the belt was tightened.

View attachment 519392

Something that just hit me that hasn't before. That scarf is a very similar style to the type worn by high school girls in Japan. Could it point to a high-school aged sister in the same household?

 

[FlowersInBloom]

Something that just hit me that hasn't before. That scarf is a very similar style to the type worn by high school girls in Japan. Could it point to a high-school aged sister in the same household?

Would her DNA be found on it if it were his sisters or girlfriends though? Did the scarf get checked too? I know the bag did… and it was confirmed only his DNA was found on it and no one else’s… If the scarf wasn’t his I feel it would show something?

 

[TokyoSleuth]

Would her DNA be found on it if it were his sisters or girlfriends though? Did the scarf get checked too? I know the bag did… and it was confirmed only his DNA was found on it and no one else’s… If the scarf wasn’t his I feel it would show something?

Good point!