Perhaps it's a bit redundant of me bring up a topic that might've been covered in previous threads or indeed this thread but I'll do it anyway. How sure are we about how long the perpetrator stayed in the house after murdering the family? I'm aware that the only certain timestamps we have to rely on are the 1:18am to 1:23am the 5mins he spent messing around on the computer on the first floor. However, there's really no certainty on how long after these timestamps he was in the house or indeed what time he fled from the Miyazawa property.
Of course, anyone remotely familiar with this case will point out the theory that the perp might've have left as late as 10am in the morning based on the police report that the computer came back on around that time. However, as we all know Obregon has said that the TMPD mentioned that it was likely the Grandmother Haruko who might've moved the mouse on the desk, after fainting (or collapsing) from shock upon seeing Mikio's body.
I'm a lil skeptical about this though because how does it match chronologically from the time the computer turns back on and the time when Haruko found the bodies? Perhaps
@Incoherent can help me out here because I've heard that An Irie in her book or somewhere else mentioned that Haruko came in to the Miyazawa house between 10:30-10:40am but the computer was reported to have turned back on before that.
An says in her book the time had passed 10:30am by the time Haruko went over to the house, and that she was there for around 5 minutes but not more than 10. The computer access that morning has only been reported as “around 10am” with no definitive time mentioned, unlike the earlier access at 1:18am. This is because the mouse was manipulated during the earlier time and things were clicked on and opened for the duration of use, but in the morning the mouse was
not used so it was determined that the mouse falling was the cause of the computer waking up as it was also found hanging down from the desk. The TMPD conducted experiments with the same computer to see if this could be the case and the results were that it was. Haruko, An, and her husband had all been in the house that morning.
Re: his escape time, no one knows. But I want to thank you for your comment because it made me look back at a few pages in her book and found a small missed detail.
An and her son had gone to bed at 11pm that night. An and her husband on the second floor, Haruko on the second floor, the son on the 3rd floor. Her husband was falling asleep around 9pm already due to jet lag from returning to Japan the week prior.
Haruko was watching TV in her room and had a habit falling asleep with it left on. So much so that An and her husband had a habit of
wearing earplugs to sleep. An says that night she
did wear earplugs, but that they were not very tight. She says she was still able to hear the wind blowing occasionally and was strangely not able to fall asleep until
after 1am, even though she was very tired.
So, to go back to his escape time, An confirms she was still awake around the time he was using the computer. If he escaped shortly after I wonder if she would have been able to hear it with her earplugs in? She mentions she could hear the wind after all.
To me it seems likely he left a while after but not after sunrise due to the risk of being seen by early risers in the neighbourhood. Perhaps the 2-3am mark? JMO.
This makes me realise I should read through her book again more carefully in case there are any more missed details.
japantoday.com
