crime

Man arrested over murder of Ibaraki couple in 2019

13 Comments

Police in Sakai, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 26-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of fatally stabbing a couple and attempting to kill two of their children at their home in September 2019.

Police said the suspect, Yoshiyuki Okaniwa, who lives in Misato City, Saitama Prefecture, has been arrested twice for minor crimes since last December, Fuji TV reported. A search of his home on Friday turned up several survival knives. Police did not say whether Okaniwa has admitted to the Ibaraki murders.

The bodies of Mitsunori Kobayashi, 48, and his wife Miwa, 50, were found in their house in Sakai on the morning of Sept 23, 2019. Both victims had knife wounds to their necks and faces. Police said Miwa had called 110 at around 12:30 a.m., screaming for help but the phone went dead. When police arrived, they found the two bodies in a tatami room on the second floor of the house.

The couple lived with their three children — two daughters aged 21 and 11, and a 13-year-old son. Two of the children, the boy and the 11-year-old girl — who were sleeping on the second floor — also suffered knife wounds to their legs and were taken to hospital. The girl said something was sprayed on her face. The oldest daughter, whose bedroom is on the first floor, was unharmed. She told police she was asleep and heard nothing.

At the time of the attack, the house, which is surrounded by trees, was unlocked. The children told police a masked man dressed in black and wearing a black cap attacked them in their room.

Okaniwa was arrested last December for illegal possession of explosive materials and again in February for using a forged police badge.

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13 Comments
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Grade A nutter.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

I hope they have got the right person, at least thats a nutter off the streets.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I hope they have the right person. His previous crimes were weird, but not murder.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Two arrests for stabbing incidents when he was 16.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I’d say do the same to him. How was it?

Stab wounds on their necks and faces...?

Eye for eye.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Japanese people have told me they are reluctant to live in a house in a quiet (and thus dark) location due to the danger of intrusions by dangerous people. This could be a case in point, I guess. I'm waiting to hear the suspect's MO.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The suspect was reported to have ridden his bicycle 30 kilometers to the scene of the crime; he does not have a driving licence. Police were able to track and identify him by footprints left by his rainboots.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japanese people have told me they are reluctant to live in a house in a quiet (and thus dark) location due to the danger of intrusions by dangerous people.

It doesn't matter where you live if you don't lock your doors (and windows).

Some people actually brag about not locking their doors, as if it's something to be proud of, as opposed to something stupid they should be embarrassed to admit.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

It doesn't matter where you live 

He scanned Google maps in search of an isolated house where there wouldn't be any witnesses, according to some unconfirmed media reports.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The TV has been full of this. He spent some time in a Juvenile Delinquent Home for a random stabbing of two schoolgirls. Eventually they made the decision to release him after lengthy rehabilitation.

When asked for his motivation, in a seemingly motiveless attack, he allegedly described the thrill of killing people.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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