The Killer who Stayed: Murder in Setagaya
Background
Near the turn of the century people all over were celebrating and getting ready to celebrate the new millennium. Some, of course, were worried about Y2K, but more were focused on the festivities. However, on December 30th, 2000, the murder of a Japanese family in their home would shock the island nation of Japan.
Residing in a duplex home, the Miyazawa family was an average Japanese family. Mikio, the head of the household worked for Interbrand. His wife, Yasuko, was a teacher who often watched over the couple’s two children: Niina, their eight-year-old daughter and Rei, their six-year-old son. Having resided in their home for 10 years at the time, they were getting ready to move as the city was expanding the park behind their house. Had everything gone as planned, the Miyazawa’s would have been in their new home before February.
Unbeknownst to them, they were being stalked by a vicious murderer. 5 days before the murders, Yasuko complained that a car had been parked outside their house; 3 days before the crime a man was witnessed wandering around the Miyazwa’s home and the man would later be noticed to wander around their house frequently. This man was also later seen arguing with Mikio the same day he and his family had been murdered.
Before that, it was a normal December day; that same night Niina was with her grandmother next door watching TV until 9:30 and Mikio read an email around 10:38 PM. The email Mikio read was password protected meaning he was the one who opened it personally. This email is the last time Mikio and the Miyazawa family would interact with the outside world.
It is not certain how the murderer was able to get into the Miyazawa’s house, but the second floor bathroom window was exposed to the park behind the house and an agile man would have been able to climb into the window.
The Murders
After breaking into the house, it is assumed that the murderer went into Rei’s bedroom and strangled the child while he slept. The exact time is not certain, but it is assumed Rei was murdered around 11. It is notable that Rei was the first to be murdered and killed in the least brutal way. Afterwards, it is assumed that Mikio was the second murdered. It is not certain why he was the second, but Mikio did put up resistance, the blade the killer used was broken during this struggle. After the fight, Mikio was thrown to the bottom of the staircase and the Miyazawa’s relatives who lived next door heard a large thump around this time. This thump would later be assumed to be Mikio’s body falling down the stairs of his home.
However, they did not check on the noise and during this time, and the killer had moved onto Yasuko and Niina who were watching TV in the attic. The killer launched at them and wounded them before retreating to the kitchen. During this time, Yasuko attempted to treat Niina’s wounds with a first aid kit as she may have assumed, he left. However, this would prove futile as the killer returned with the very same knife the family bought that day and killed them both at the bottom of the ladder leading to the attic. After this, the killer had used some of the same bandages to treat his wounds he received while fighting Mikio before he ran out of supplies and utilized women’s hygiene products to treat himself as well.
The Aftermath
As if to taunt the family, the murderer loitered around the Miyazawa’s house for an estimated total of 10 hours. Treating himself to tea, cantaloupe, and ice cream, the killer acted like he was at his own home. There is evidence showing the killer had utilized the family’s computer twice to buy tickets to a concert before unplugging the computer and taking a nap on the families couch.
At some point during his 10 hour stay the killer unplugged the families phone. This was how the bodies were discovered. Yasuko’s mother had called her the next morning as both families had plans to celebrate the New Year together. Unfortunately for the grandmother, these plans would soon be slashed much like the family only hours prior.
Discovery and the Police Investigation
After attempting to call the family for some time, the grandmother decided to walk next door and knock. With no answer for some time she used her spare key to enter the Miyazawa’s home. Upon entering she saw Mikio, stabbed repeatedly, at the bottom of the stairs facing the front door. Going up the stairs, she would have saw her daughter and granddaughter stabbed dozens of times; it is notable that the amount of stab wounds both Yasuko and Niina had far exceeded the amount that Mikio suffered even after Mikio had fought with and injured the killer. Lastly, the grandmother would have encountered Rei strangled in his bed.
The Police were inundated with the amount of evidence left behind from the killer and they began focusing on the killers exit and estimated time of the crime. As previously mentioned, the killer and Mikio fought and based on the program the grandmother was watching the previous night it is estimated Mikio was murdered around 11:30. The grandmother also mentioned that the front door was locked, so it is assumed the killer left through the window he came in from. This is further proven from the amount of blood near around the house. If the killer had left through the front door, blood would have been on the handle and around the entrance.
Afterwards the police started working on the house itself. Interestingly, the killer left without taking anything from the family aside from Mikio’s sportswear and 150,000 Japanese Yen. Besides that, not another item was taken from the Miyazawa’s home. There was evidence that shows the killer went through almost everything in the house, the killer had organized the wallets of the victims by age, but he did not take anything beyond that and left another 60,000 Yen behind. Instead, the killer decided to leave behind a multitude of evidence against himself, an unflushed toilet full of his feces, blood, fingerprints, and most amazingly, the majority of his clothes.
Suspect Appearance
From this and witness testimony from seeing the criminal around the Miyazawa’s residence days prior, it was possible to piece together the exact outfit the killer was wearing at the time as well as their height and estimated age. It is assumed the killer is around 5’7’’ with a pant size of 32 inches.
Much of what the killer was wearing, while owned by many Japanese citizens, was not common in Japan. In particular, the shoe size the killer was wearing is not easily obtainable in Japan and instead, is more common in Korea. While not visible in the picture, the killer also had a hip bag that had trace amounts of sand that was later analyzed and traced to an area close to an area in the United States close to an Air Force base north of Los Angeles. With this, police assumed the killer was not purely Japanese and their suspicions were later confirmed when they had tested the killer’s blood which shows the killer’s mother has ancestry in Southern Europe.
Searching for the Killer
With potential ties to Europe, Korea, and America, police in Japan needed to act quick. However, by the time the police arrived the killer was already far away.
6 hours away a man in his thirties was admitted to a medical center north of Tokyo with a hand wound that exposed bone; this wound was most likely the wound the killer tried to treat in the attic of the Miyazawa’s home.
With this, the killer should have been caught literally red-handed. However, he did not give his name to the medical center nor were they able to get it from him. Because of this, the killer was able to get away with no issue. Even with all the DNA evidence the police have against the killer, they have no-one to point the evidence towards as they have no name to compare it towards; in all of the database the police have access to they do not have any match meaning this killer had no criminal record at the time and still has no criminal record.
With how meticulously the killer broke into the house one would assume that they would leave with the same care. It is unique in this case where they left so much information behind; to this date police are unsure as why they left so much information behind.
Conclusions
Nearly 20 years and 250,000 detectives later, the killer is still unfound even with a 20 million Yen reward. Because the criminal may be from a different country Tokyo Police have made fliers in Chinese, Korean, and English in addition to their native Japanese. Still, all around the streets of Setagaya the police still have posters and flyers up in an attempt to capture the killer; as of currently 25 detectives are still investigating this case.
However, with no suspect and no motive, assumptions can only be made about this case. All that is known is that there is a killer with no criminal history, but cold enough to stay in the house for 10 hours and bold enough to leave evidence behind. Detectives have attempted to link the killer to someone from America or Korea, but no solid leads have been made.
The turn of the millennium gave many a newfound respect for living and a new resolve to face the new world head-on. However, the Miyazawa’s received none of that and instead have no peace.
