Here are some main points that I gained from the documentary. Apologies they are unorganised but they are just from what I noted down as they were said in the programme. I will be watching it again later and follow up with any more that I maybe missed.
I’m attempting to not offer my opinion on anything yet (we’ll see how that goes…) and just report what was said in the documentary.
Points are as follows:
- The knife snapped into two pieces when the killer was attacking Yasuko and Niina in the loft. A small piece of the tip did break in Mikio’s head, but the knife snapped into two further large pieces and was found in the loft where he was attacking the females - not Mikio.
Multiple scratches and stab marks were found on the headboard of the bed and on the wall indicating that is why the knife snapped.
- The injuries on Yasuko and Niina in the loft were very significant. The killer’s knife was essentially still completely intact when he attacked them in the bed. The stabbing was very vicious.
- The majority of all injuries on Yasuko and Niina were on their faces. It’s reported the killer focussed his stabs on their faces over other places like their necks, chests, etc. It’s claimed that this shows a “grudge” towards the females over the males but no further evidence is offered besides that.
- It’s reported the killer injured his hand during his attack on Niina and was still wearing his gloves at this time. It does not specify why they say it was Niina or whether it was in the loft or on the landing where he sustained his injury. But it seems he had his gloves on the entire time until the end of the attack.
- Bloody footprints were found heading towards the front door. Important to note they were in the direction going to the front door specifically. This is the biggest indicator that he left through the front door and not the bathroom window or balcony.
- The killer attacked Mikio at the bottom of the stairs, not at the top. It’s reported a blood splatter was on the back of Mikio’s computer hardware that faces the bottom of the stairs. In the recreation, they report that the killer silently made his way down the staircase and waited until Mikio made his way up to ambush him. It is unlikely Mikio fell down the stairs therefore no noise of such was reported by the Irie’s. It is possible he tried to run up the stairs and fell backwards due to the position his body was found in. But no more than a few steps.
This would mean the killer entered the house, killed Rei, and made his way downstairs without alerting anyone else.
- The killer did defecate in the toilet but he did not put any documents in there, and he did flush. Additionally, two of Yasuko’s handbags were found in the toilet room indicating the killer was riffling through them as he sat and used the toilet. His feces were found but only very small amounts that were left behind after he flushed.
- It’s reported the killer was lying down or sleeping on the floor of the living room. A pillow was found on the floor with an indentation like someone’s head was resting on it.
- The killer’s sneakers that were previously reported as only being sold in Korea due to their size has now changed to include Australia as well.
- Almost all of the drawers in the house were found open in every room, including Rei’s. One drawer from downstairs and one from the living room were removed from their cabinets. Contents were found scattered all over the house, but concentrated mostly in the bathtub and on the sofa.
It’s reported that the manner in which the killer opened the drawers and the amount that were left open indicates he was attempting to disguise the murder as a robbery. It’s claimed the way he did this was unusual and more for show than purpose. No further evidence is offered for this.
- There was not a single drop of the killer’s blood found in Rei’s room. Rei’s blood was found pooled on the bed where his face was lying indicating a very violent strangulation.
- Rei was 100% the first to be killed.
- The new witness testimony is from an old woman who owned a drug store close to the Miyazawa’s house back in the day.
She claims that two male youths, non-Japanese and unable to speak Japanese well, were going in and out of her store multiple times. She felt they were very strange and denied them medicine for a cough when they asked for it. She works with a police sketch artist to do their portraits from memory but nothing further comes of any of this.
- The DNA section includes examples of cases that were solved in America due to the usage and shows how identical the portraits were of the suspects before they were caught. The documentary essentially just wants to show that if the law changed in Japan they could get an exact image of the killer’s face using this method.
They repeat that the killer’s DNA included elements from Korea on his father’s side, and this time include Armenia and Arab countries on his mother’s side. Nothing more is offered on this.
That’s all I have for now but as I said I’ll be watching again and will follow up with anything I missed.
Thanks Incoherent and anyone else . This is super helpful.
MY CONCLUSIONS
1) The fact that the killer got into the house (supposedly via the bathroom), killed Rei and sneaked up on Mikio in a rather noiseless fashion is
INTERESTING.
2) In any case, the confrontation with Mikio wasn’t as egregious for the killer as previously thought of. Only the tip of the knife was broken. Much of the knife stayed functional. It is possible that the killer sustained rather minor injuries or no injuries at all here.
3) Since the mum and daughter were attacked with their faces near the head area of the bed, it is likely they were still in bed and sleeping when the killer got to them. This dispels the previous certain notion that the mum or daughter might have accidentally seen the killer’s face during his confrontation with Mikio and thats why the killer went after them.
4) Yasuko’s handbag and other drawers in the bathroom might have been for the search of sanitary pads to stem the bleeding after the killing.
5) I don’t know if the killer staged a robbery or simply was callous in his search for the pads and left things as such.
6) Interesting that the killer slept/ laid down on the floor and not on the sofa. Usually see that in people suffering from certain mental health conditions.
7) Front door as exit option - I don’t know about that. It seems very likely. But wouldn’t there be microscopic blood traces or other stuff going out. The killer must have cleaned his shoes at some point after the house. Did he then intentionally put his foot in a pool of blood again or he didn’t care enough?
8) Witness testimony isn’t much. DNA evidence isn’t helpful either.
9) Australia and South Korea are rather interesting, when you look at armies and the families that might be stationed there.
10) Grudge against females seems to be hugely speculative in my view. He also attacks Mikio in the head, it might simply be a perspective thing of getting close to your victims from the up with time on your hands.
11) The noise situation both within the house as well as what gets transmitted to the neighbors remains INTERESTING.
MOO.
