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

[FacelessPodcast]

Can’t read a lot on this thread right now so apologies in advance if this has already been covered. We can make a reasonable assumption that the balcony door was found closed by LE because it’s not mentioned as being open, and because TMPD do not point it out as the most likely entry point.
But would the killer take the time to close it after he enters? I think he would, as it faces the street and any screaming would be easily heard if open. And he came to kill.
This doesn’t answer why he doesn’t seem to be very concerned about screaming being heard through the walls by the other family but, then again, he obviously didn’t need to be concerned about that as they didn’t hear any screaming. Oddly.
My point, though: I find it quite reasonable to think the killer would have taken the extra second or two required to close the balcony door behind him.

Hope you're doing okay, @fridaybaker.

And I agree with you, you would just close it by reflex -- the balcony door is a sliding door. If he entered by the front door, he wouldn't have left that open either. Unlikely you would even put much thought into it and just do it as a matter of course. He loses nothing by shutting the door behind him, whether front door or balcony. The bathroom window would be less pressing to shut given its size / location etc. But we don't know its state upon discovery either.

 

[FacelessPodcast]

About if there were muddy footprints in the house at all I remember reading there were actually. This was from a source Monazite’s blog I believe so I would need to go back to find it again and his blog is a bit of a mess.

RSBM: Excellent points re: laundry. I can confirm the mud through the house. None in the window frame, though. Now, as per the video, he wouldn't need to touch the window frame with his feet to get in. But he would need to touch the ledge / that unit on the wall.

JMO but I think for many reasons the front door has zero chance of being the entry point, but I don’t discount it being an exit. That leaves the balcony and the bathroom window. He had to have used one of them.

If the killer comes through the front door, then he knows them -- exactly -- and then we're back to the paradox. There's no way Mikio let's him upstairs at that time of night without knowing him and knowing him well. That's trust. Though if that is a relationship the TMPD have somehow missed then it would be very significant that he kills Rei before Mikio, that would indicate the boy being is priority. I don't buy it on any level.

The thing that's strange about the front door is that there is zero blood around it, though. So, if the killer left that way, he hopped over Mikio's body and blood pool on the way out or cleaned his shoes throughly just after that blood and took the cleaning supplies with him.

 

[Incoherent]

The thing that's strange about the front door is that there is zero blood around it, though. So, if the killer left that way, he hopped over Mikio's body and blood pool on the way out or cleaned his shoes throughly just after that blood and took the cleaning supplies with him.

RSBM: it would also mean turning two locks and pushing the door to exit and leaving nothing on them. I can see the TMPD perhaps trampling his footprints in the genkan and making the evidence difficult to find, but how about his prints on the locks or door from the inside? I can only assume they did check for that and got nothing then.

And so we circle back to the main questions again, how did this guy get in and then get out? I can’t help but wonder if we’re missing something but I can’t think what.