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

[Lalalacasbah]

I have managed to finally get my hands on a copy of Ann Irie’s book この悲しみの意味を知ることができるなら (if you could only know the meaning of this sadness) published in 2007 about the murder of her family and the days leading up to it. It’s likely much too sophisticated for me to read quickly, but I’m looking forward to gaining more perspective through her words. I’ve only ever read excerpts until now.

Of course, I will post here if any new or interesting information comes to light from the book about anything. But bear with me that it may take a while to get through the whole thing.

View attachment 550524

I'm glad you got this! I imagine a sad read but good to do it especially to show support for her in way. We'll be waiting if anything jumps out and you post about it.

 

[Incoherent]

There has been some very interesting news that has come out via news outlets quoting the TMPD yesterday, along with footage that has (to my knowledge) not been shown before until now.

A quick summary:

1. The TMPD now says it is now their official position the killer did use the bathroom window to enter and exit the house. They say the “probability is very likely”. Until now they have never stated their position on the entry or exit and it has always been up for debate (and still is, but this is MOO).

2. It has been reported that fibres were found on the bathroom window. Until now we have been told they definitively were not found. This has now changed.

3. The phone on the first floor of the house, where the computer and Mikio was, was found unplugged at the wall socket. Until now this has never been confirmed or mentioned. It has been reported they think the killer did this to delay the bodies being found.

(Side note: could the internet on the computer have been used if the phone was unplugged? Did broadband exist on a wide enough scale back then and would it work without the phone plugged in?)

4. It has been reported the front door was locked. Only Haruko would know this since she went to the house alone in the morning and discovered the bodies. Until now it has not been reported, but this has now changed.

You can view the new footage and information here and here.

As this is all recently released information it is in Japanese only, so you’ll need to hit translate.

One additional question for anyone here: here is a new image of the bathroom window open and the insect screen on the floor below. If you look inside the window, does it look like the bathroom light was left on? I’m trying to figure out what it is I’ve circled. Thoughts appreciated.

Also, again, look how small that window is…

 

[annemc2]

The other walls have the tub, some shelves, and the door so this wall would be a good place for there to be a mirror. But the square is much too high up, yeah? Would it be some kind of heater, square lighting box, or reflection from a mirror placed elsewhere?

 

[Incoherent]

The other walls have the tub, some shelves, and the door so this wall would be a good place for there to be a mirror. But the square is much too high up, yeah? Would it be some kind of heater, square lighting box, or reflection from a mirror placed elsewhere?

If you see the circle here that is the bathroom mirror. These wet room units were typically built this way, it’s just that it’s been covered by white paper while the press were in the house.

That leaves the ceiling and the wall to the left for the light. Again as before, light boxes are typically on the wall in these wet rooms but there is a possibility it’s on the ceiling.

I’m just wondering if it is the light… was it really left on as he escaped through that window and left on all night with the window wide open?

 

[Eliver]

There has been some very interesting news that has come out via news outlets quoting the TMPD yesterday, along with footage that has (to my knowledge) not been shown before until now.

Great timing Incoherent, I was also scouring the news in Japanese newspapers this morning and stumbled upon these new facts.

This is all very puzzling

To answer your question: the light does seem to be off. However it's very difficult to say.

 

[Lalalacasbah]

Thanks so much for sharing the new info!

I do think you're right, that's it's possibly a light. I found this image on what looks like an AI written "news" site (take it for what it's worth) but looks like same angle as yours and they look to have a light type thing in same place (unless I'm seeing it different!)

This article looks to mention some of the book it sounds like but the grammar/translation or AI article isn't written great but enough to get the gist if familiar with the story.

https://inf.news/en/world/5c22de89105f19edfd6ac1dfb198496b.html

 

[Lalalacasbah]

I cannot think this was random and the house was random. The killer even if agile and strong/athletic, was SO determined to get into that house to go through that window. Still feels personal to me in some way. MOO

 

[Lalalacasbah]

And IIRC I think I used to have to unplug my phone in the early days of the internet when it was dial up. Unplug phone, plug in computer with the phone jack.

What I can't remember is - how we'd get calls when using the internet. Unless there were 2 jack plug ins in the house and there was a double line? I always had a double line lol... can't remember if phone and internet could be used at the same time. I think they could not, I think the phone line would be busy maybe if online. I could be wrong though.

Cell phones were just coming out I think into mainstream around 1998/1999 I think... I was late to use one though!

 

[dub]

There has been some very interesting news that has come out via news outlets quoting the TMPD yesterday, along with footage that has (to my knowledge) not been shown before until now.

A quick summary:

1. The TMPD now says it is now their official position the killer did use the bathroom window to enter and exit the house. They say the “probability is very likely”. Until now they have never stated their position on the entry or exit and it has always been up for debate (and still is, but this is MOO).

2. It has been reported that fibres were found on the bathroom window. Until now we have been told they definitively were not found. This has now changed.

3. The phone on the first floor of the house, where the computer and Mikio was, was found unplugged at the wall socket. Until now this has never been confirmed or mentioned. It has been reported they think the killer did this to delay the bodies being found.

(Side note: could the internet on the computer have been used if the phone was unplugged? Did broadband exist on a wide enough scale back then and would it work without the phone plugged in?)

4. It has been reported the front door was locked. Only Haruko would know this since she went to the house alone in the morning and discovered the bodies. Until now it has not been reported, but this has now changed.

You can view the new footage and information here and here.

As this is all recently released information it is in Japanese only, so you’ll need to hit translate.

One additional question for anyone here: here is a new image of the bathroom window open and the insect screen on the floor below. If you look inside the window, does it look like the bathroom light was left on? I’m trying to figure out what it is I’ve circled. Thoughts appreciated.

Also, again, look how small that window is…
View attachment 550678

View attachment 550679

Do we know if any of the killer’s blood was found in the vicinity of that window?

I didn’t think there was but I haven’t looked at this case in a while and can’t recall for sure.

 

[Incoherent]

Do we know if any of the killer’s blood was found in the vicinity of that window?

I didn’t think there was but I haven’t looked at this case in a while and can’t recall for sure.

No, none. Not even on the rim of the bath like a bloody footprint.

By the time he exited via the window he had already changed all of his clothes, besides his trousers and shoes, and bandaged himself up, likely cleaning himself up as much as he could too.

However for the last almost 24 years the information has been that there were no fibres at all around the window. And now, suddenly, it’s reported there were some.

 

[cenazoic]

Broadband wasn’t really available until the early 2000s:

Asia Internet History Projects - Japan: Snapshot of Internet around 2000

Kenjiro Cho 2013.2.4 Broadband In early 2000s, Japan experienced a rapid and successful transitionfrom dialup services to high-speed broadband access. There were several factors for the success: (1) the existence of physical infrastructure (2) market potential (3) deregulation and competition

sites.google.com

Even in the US, many people were on dialup until after the turn of the century. (My first job post-military was doing tech support for a local ISP - 1995-98ish).

What I can't remember is - how we'd get calls when using the internet.

If you had call waiting, an incoming call while connected to the internet on dialup either dropped your connection, or there was software that allowed you to block call waiting while online.

If you didn’t have call waiting, the caller just got a busy signal, like they would for any other call you may have been on.

 

[dub]

No, none. Not even on the rim of the bath like a bloody footprint.

By the time he exited via the window he had already changed all of his clothes, besides his trousers and shoes, and bandaged himself up, likely cleaning himself up as much as he could too.

However for the last almost 24 years the information has been that there were no fibres at all around the window. And now, suddenly, it’s reported there were some.

Hmm interesting, thank you.

So now I’m kind of circling back to a theory I had when I first looked at this case.

My old theory was that Rei wasn’t killed first, he was killed last, and probably quite a while after the other three - possibly because the killer didn’t realize he was there until later, which would suggest he was not familiar with the inside of the house, and was at best only vaguely familiar with the family.

I discounted this due to the lack of blood around Rei and his bed, but I’m pretty sure it would be way harder to climb out a second story window with one or both hands cut up without leaving blood than it would be to strangle Rei. So maybe it is viable after all.

I’ve never been able to reconcile the two commonly held ideas that a.) the killer entered through the window and b.) Rei was killed first. One or the other could be true, but to me both being true seems impossible.

The balcony theory takes care of this problem easily, but if TMPD is correct about him using the window in both directions, I see no reason he couldn’t have killed Rei and still avoided leaving blood around him.

 

[Eliver]

Hmm interesting, thank you.

So now I’m kind of circling back to a theory I had when I first looked at this case.

My old theory was that Rei wasn’t killed first, he was killed last, and probably quite a while after the other three - possibly because the killer didn’t realize he was there until later, which would suggest he was not familiar with the inside of the house, and was at best only vaguely familiar with the family.

I discounted this due to the lack of blood around Rei and his bed, but I’m pretty sure it would be way harder to climb out a second story window with one or both hands cut up without leaving blood than it would be to strangle Rei. So maybe it is viable after all.

I’ve never been able to reconcile the two commonly held ideas that a.) the killer entered through the window and b.) Rei was killed first. One or the other could be true, but to me both being true seems impossible.

But even discounting the all blood thing, (and unless I'm misunderstanding your message), the fact that he killed Rei last doesn't make any sense.

The house is small and the killings happened around all the same place (aka the corridor/stairs at the second floor).

How could the boy not hear a single thing: the fight between the father and the killer, the stairs to the attic being moved down (again, it made a loud thud that was even heard next door), the killing of mother and sister, the killer going back and forth to take another knife and finishing off Yasuko and Niina.

Rei's room is right next to where all of these things happened.

He was killed first, to me (and to the TMPD) there is no doubt about it.

 

[Incoherent]

One thing to note about the unplugged phone is that the house had an internal phone that did not rely on a phone line. It had a direct connection to the Irie house, and it was the line Haruko called on in the morning as per Ann’s book. The killer unplugging the phone line on 1F didn’t affect the internal phone and it still rang that morning, it just went unanswered.

So the report that the killer possibly unplugged the phone to delay the discovery of the bodies ironically had no effect at all due to the internal line. Unfortunately, the Irie’s had all slept in that morning and it wasn’t until Haruko needed a condiment for cooking did she try to call and then just head over and found the bodies.

It does potentially mean that the computer had no internet access then if it had been ripped out before the killer used it. Perhaps it explains the short 5 minute usage.

It is unlikely the killer knew the internal phone line in the kitchen was still active the entire time. MOO.

 

[dub]

But even discounting the all blood thing, (and unless I'm misunderstanding your message), the fact that he killed Rei last doesn't make any sense.

The house is small and the killings happened around all the same place (aka the corridor/stairs at the second floor).

How could the boy not hear a single thing: the fight between the father and the killer, the stairs to the attic being moved down (again, it made a loud thud that was even heard next door), the killing of mother and sister, the killer going back and forth to take another knife and finishing off Yasuko and Niina.

Rei's room is right next to where all of these things happened.

He was killed first, to me (and to the TMPD) there is no doubt about it.

This is such an awesome exercise in how the same evidence can take people down totally different paths.

What you described about the layout of the house, close quarters, etc is exactly why I can’t reconcile Rei being killed first if the killer entered through the window. It had to make a lot of noise, and everyone else in the family was within feet of it.

I can’t wrap my head around everyone in the family just completely ignoring that for long enough, not even yelling to the other family members “hey was that sound you?” or something to that effect, for the killer to move through the house and strangle Rei (the latter of which would take what, like 3-4 minutes?)

And I’m not sure I understand why Rei hearing everything makes a difference. Of course he would have—but what are his options there? He was probably terrified, and was trapped unless he thought to try to leave out the balcony, which I wouldn’t expect a six year old to do. He may have tried to hide in his room or something.

So what’s less likely: that Rei heard everything, and just failed to act because he’s six (or hid in his room and stayed put), or that three other family members heard the killers entry and all failed to act in any way?

If, hypothetically, the killer used a ladder to enter, thats a whole different story. That could be quiet enough and both parts of the TMPD theory then work. But there’s no evidence that anything like that happened, right?

In any case, I appreciate your response, and to be clear am not absolutely locked in on my theory—I’ve already put it aside once—I just don’t get how this would work as the TMPD thinks it did. I just can’t help but think TMPD has one of the two parts wrong, but I have no idea which one.

The balcony theory and Rei being killed first is what makes the most sense to me by far, but since they’re now saying that’s not the case I’m thrown for a loop and reassessing, ya know?

 

[dub]

An addendum to the above: the more I think about it, for the TMPD theory to work, there are actually two separate but related things that need to happen:

1. The killer is able to launch himself from a fence to a tiny window and enter, and do all this silently enough that nobody in the house notices.

2. (And this actually might be even less likely) the killer does this, and in doing so also is 100% sure that nobody in the house heard him.

Because I’d think if he thought there was even a small chance he was heard, whether he actually was or not, it would have immediately turned this into a blitz attack in which Mikio was killed first.

 

[Incoherent]

This is such an awesome exercise in how the same evidence can take people down totally different paths.

What you described about the layout of the house, close quarters, etc is exactly why I can’t reconcile Rei being killed first if the killer entered through the window. It had to make a lot of noise, and everyone else in the family was within feet of it.

I can’t wrap my head around everyone in the family just completely ignoring that for long enough, not even yelling to the other family members “hey was that sound you?” or something to that effect, for the killer to move through the house and strangle Rei (the latter of which would take what, like 3-4 minutes?)

And I’m not sure I understand why Rei hearing everything makes a difference. Of course he would have—but what are his options there? He was probably terrified, and was trapped unless he thought to try to leave out the balcony, which I wouldn’t expect a six year old to do. He may have tried to hide in his room or something.

So what’s less likely: that Rei heard everything, and just failed to act because he’s six (or hid in his room and stayed put), or that three other family members heard the killers entry and all failed to act in any way?

If, hypothetically, the killer used a ladder to enter, thats a whole different story. That could be quiet enough and both parts of the TMPD theory then work. But there’s no evidence that anything like that happened, right?

In any case, I appreciate your response, and to be clear am not absolutely locked in on my theory—I’ve already put it aside once—I just don’t get how this would work as the TMPD thinks it did. I just can’t help but think TMPD has one of the two parts wrong, but I have no idea which one.

The balcony theory and Rei being killed first is what makes the most sense to me by far, but since they’re now saying that’s not the case I’m thrown for a loop and reassessing, ya know?

These are good points dub. I’ve posted a video of a re-creation of an actor the speculated same height and stature of the killer climbing the fence and entering the bathroom window, and the most apparent thing is the amount of noise it made.

Even for someone as slim as he is supposed to have been, the 2 metre tall fence moving and shaking as he climbed it and the slams against the side of the house as he climbed into the window made quite a racket. I would also be surprised if no one heard this.

However, to play devil’s advocate here. It was winter and the house is wooden. Wooden houses in Japan are deathly cold unless heated, and it is highly likely (MOO) the air conditioner units were all running to keep the place warm.
The units sit outside the house, two on Rei’s balcony and two on the side of the house facing outward. It would mean 4 units, all humming away, would surround Mikio sat on his computer.

Furthermore, the bathtub was full of water.
Initial reports questioned why the killer would fill the tub to destroy documents, but it is more likely the tub was already full with the bath water the family shared that night.
In Japan we rinse off in the shower before sharing water between family members to soak. The bathroom window could have been cracked open to let the steam out after all members were done with the bath, meaning the door to the room was also closed.

It was also the new year period, meaning deep cleaning was taking place throughout the house and a potentially cracked window open until Mikio retires to bed to let the bathroom breathe.

If we consider 4 AC units humming away and a closed bathroom door, we can potentially see how the killer made it inside without alerting Mikio. This is all without mentioning the noises that Rei has been reported to have often made due to his condition.

But to reiterate my position as stated across these threads I am not sure whether it was the balcony or the bathroom window. In my own personal opinion it could have been either and have made sense.

Thoughts appreciated as always.

 

[dub]

These are good points dub. I’ve posted a video of a re-creation of an actor the speculated same height and stature of the killer climbing the fence and entering the bathroom window, and the most apparent thing is the amount of noise it made.

Even for someone as slim as he is supposed to have been, the 2 metre tall fence moving and shaking as he climbed it and the slams against the side of the house as he climbed into the window made quite a racket. I would also be surprised if no one heard this.

However, to play devil’s advocate here. It was winter and the house is wooden. Wooden houses in Japan are deathly cold unless heated, and it is highly likely (MOO) the air conditioner units were all running to keep the place warm.
The units sit outside the house, two on Rei’s balcony and two on the side of the house facing outward. It would mean 4 units, all humming away, would surround Mikio sat on his computer.

Furthermore, the bathtub was full of water.
Initial reports questioned why the killer would fill the tub to destroy documents, but it is more likely the tub was already full with the bath water the family shared that night.
In Japan we rinse off in the shower before sharing water between family members to soak. The bathroom window could have been cracked open to let the steam out after all members were done with the bath, meaning the door to the room was also closed.

It was also the new year period, meaning deep cleaning was taking place throughout the house and a potentially cracked window open until Mikio retires to bed to let the bathroom breathe.

If we consider 4 AC units humming away and a closed bathroom door, we can potentially see how the killer made it inside without alerting Mikio. This is all without mentioning the noises that Rei has been reported to have often made due to his condition.

But to reiterate my position as stated across these threads I am not sure whether it was the balcony or the bathroom window. In my own personal opinion it could have been either and have made sense.

Thoughts appreciated as always.

Thanks, this is great context and yeah, it does seem to make it a bit more likely that it might be possible.

I didn’t know about the re-creation, it would be nice if they set one up under the exact conditions you described (HVAC running, bathroom door closed) with people in the presumed positions of Mikio, Yasuko and Niina when the actor entered just to see if it was possible to do it quietly enough to go unnoticed. Doesn’t seem like that would be hard to arrange.

Also I always assumed that for the killer to enter thru the window it must have been wide open rather than merely cracked (or all the way closed)—otherwise how does he open it? Hang by one hand and use the other to open it the rest of the way?

I’m only half joking in suggesting that if this is truly what happened we can pretty much narrow the suspect pool down to high-level rock climbers and actual ninjas.

 

[dub]

This is all without mentioning the noises that Rei has been reported to have often made due to his condition.

RSBM it just occurred to me that buried in that post was the best counterpoint to the “Rei killed last” theory that I’ve heard yet.

I knew he had a “condition” of some kind but didn’t know about the associated noises (which I’m assuming are vocalizations?)… that might make it extremely unlikely that he could remain in the house unnoticed for a long period of time while the killer bandaged himself up etc after the initial murders.

Without knowing Rei and his specific behavior patterns personally it’s impossible to say how much this trait moves the needle, but it’s possible that it moves it a LOT.

So now I’m even more confused haha

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

The killer using the bathroom window to both break in and escape the house makes me wonder if he had to do so because he parked his bike or his car somewhere in the direction of the back of the house or if he himself lives in that direction, for example, he needed to use the staircase to take the quickest route on foot back home?

Otherwise, besides potentially not leaving the door unlocked and thereby hint to others something was wrong, why go through the inconvenience of using that window to escape? The perp was injured, including on his hand, so I imagine hitting against the side of the window panes and putting his weight on his hand to exit such a window would have exacerbated his injuries or caused more pain? Not to mention potentially cause some of the wounds’ wrapping to come loose and lead to bleeding through the clothes?

If he wanted to avoid using the front door, there were other windows in the front he could have escaped through that would cause less stress on his body?

How many times has the perp walked the path behind Miyazawa’s home just imagining using that exact route to break in before he actually committed his horrific crime?

I agree with other commenters that he must have been pretty athletic or at least had a good upper body strength to make that stretch to pull his whole person through that window?

JMO