crime

Man, woman and child found dead hanging from tree in Nagano

50 Comments

A 29-year-old man, his 33-year-old wife and their 5-year-old son were found hanging from a tree in Nagano City in the early hours of Tuesday morning, police said.

A man passing by discovered the bodies hanging from a tree in the mountains of Togakushitoyoka just after midnight, and called police. They were found fully dressed hanging close together from the same branch, in what is being treated as a murder-suicide, police said. No note was found at the scene.

The trio lived together with the man’s parents in the town of Kiso and had returned to his wife’s hometown in Nagano City on Monday morning, but left shortly after. The man’s parents notified police Monday night that they were missing when they didn’t return home.

© News reports

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50 Comments
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:(

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You want to kill yourself, fine, go right ahead!

BUT DON'T THINK THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TAKE YOUR KIDS WITH YOU!!!!

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No matter how bad things get, they're never bad enough to justify killing a child. My sympathies to this couple for any problems they may have been having - but they could and should have left the boy with his grandparents.

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mind: There's no telling if this was a suicide-murder, no note... remember? Could have just been murder...

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Either way, it is just sad.

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Ghastly. I wonder how they kept the boy quiet while they hanged him.

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this is the sad reality. i asked my friend why do japanese kill their child first then commit suicide. they said that they consider their child as their own possession, their own burden, rather live a life full of bitterness or leave your burden to others (parents, relatives) they choose to take their childs life with them. they consider it lesser evil than live a life full of miseries... but i still dont get their logic

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Razor,

They would have had to watch the boy die on the rope. Heartless animals.

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There IS no logic to that so it would be impossible for any sane person to "get" it. It's bad enough when a guy commits suicide over some trifling thing, but to murder your wife and child simply because you are too cowardly to face your problems like a man just boggles the mind.

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Some people are just plain nuts.

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perhaps the kid was handicapped...doesn't justify it by any means, but could provide some insight into the minds of the parents and the sad decision they reached.

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I still wander what makes them to take such hasty step. I know people who do such crime are crowdy and lack guts to face the situation. But, what make them to pull the little boy along with them who might not have known what he and/or his foolish parents are doing.

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mexicanish: "mind: There's no telling if this was a suicide-murder, no note... remember? Could have just been murder..."

So you think the boy willingly put the rope around his neck and gave up his life without a struggle? Come on, man.

This is sad. I feel bad for the couple and for any troubles they may have been having, but it's no excuse to murder your child. Things could have been worked out if a good support system were in place. Not making excuses for them, but this is yet another instance of the all too common occurrence of suicide in this country. I also feel very sorry for the person who stumbled upon them (and around midnight for that matter). I'm sure there will be little or no sleep for him/her for a while.

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Mexicanish: My apologies... I missed the last part of your comment. My bad!

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would love to have walked upon them trying to hang their son.. Christ, you would have gone spare. unbelievable.

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the kid was 5 yrs old.... the parents should and will end up in hell!

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so many things to ask yet less information were given. this is way beyond sane and insane.

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"it's no excuse to murder your child"

"the parents should and will end up in hell"

For all we know, the parents and the boy could very well have been murdered by someone who likes to murder families by hanging them.

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the parents should and will end up in hell

They probably thought they were already there, that's why they killed themselves.

If the parents are in hell, is the little boy in heaven? Without his parents? Pretty bleak outlook for eternity if you ask me.

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"that's why they killed themselves"

We don't know that.

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See that 'probably' in there, Sarge?

I think we could safely bet the family farm that they didn't kill themselves because everything was wonderful and they couldn't take any more happiness.

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Cleo - Your "probably" is in "They probably thought they were already there ( in hell )." There's no "probably" in your "that's why they killed themselves." It's clear from your statement that you are sure they killed themselves.

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If I were God I would bring these three to heaven, if I wanted them to stay there, they would stay.

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That being said, the parents probably did kill themselves and the boy. But we don't know that for sure.

Another sad story designed to try to wreck my day... grrrrr!

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I have a 5 year old. The very thought of what must have gone on that night, and what that little one went through in his last minutes makes me feel sick to my stomach.

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One of the sickest things I have ever heard. Like another person said earlier, I wish I could have walked upon these cowards trying to hang their child.

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Sarge - What's the matter with you today? You aren't usually such a nit-picker. The 'probably' applies to the whole sentence. But I agree with your probably, too.

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damnit not again. this makes me sad

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If the hands and/or feet were not bound then, it WAS murder and suicide. Get off that "We don't know that for sure" stuff.

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Someone had a hand in their death. probably he did something before hanging them up the tree. Lets wait for the investigations.

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What sort of trucked up logic convinces these people that your kid is better off dieing with you? - Japanese logic, of course. (if there is such a thing)

Sarge and Cleo - You are both 'probably' right.
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There is some sick irony in that the Japanese are reluctant to kill a puppy, if their dog accidentally has a bunch of offspring, and they look down really on anyone, who would do, but they seem happy and motivated when it is about killing their own family.

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Tragic story, shame on the parents if it turns out to be murder of the son.

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RIP little angel. I hope you are at piece. I will feel free to say may your parents rot in hell. When a good argument is given for killing you I'll maybe reconsider my comment.

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but they seem happy and motivated when it is about killing their own family.

Wow, that's more than a little stretch. You think people are happy to kill their families here? How awful to think that about your friends and neighbors. I wouldn't live in such a place.

This is (likely) just the work of a very very sick individual or family. How sad that the poor child has to suffer.

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"You think people are happy to kill their families here?" Well it does happen almost every day...

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People somehow figure the child is better off with them than left to live down the stigma.

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Reading things like this make for a heavy heart. How very sad and tragic. So many people are shouldering all these unspoken burdens and responsibilities, and I can only empathize; but surely there have to be other avenues to explore, and exhaust, before you choose such a desperate solution. I don't know if it's inadequate social policy, or the very powerful social pressures in place and ingrained in the mindset of the culture overall, but not enough is being done to help people.

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Indeed a tragic thing to read about. The method used being so .....what's the word?.....primitive and planned. Just imagine the father (one would assume it was him) tying the knots for the three nooses. (If all three were murdered by another person then I take it back). If all three had been shot it would somehow seem more believable...and less brutal in a way. Not that I support gun ownership in any way but if it really is a murder-suicide, it would have to be one of the most shocking examples anywhere.

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In my view, the cases that could truly warrant suicide are extremely rare, like clear proximity of death (e.g. from incurable sickness, torture, etc.) or self-sacrifice in order to save someone else's life, and I really can't think of any other right now. Everything else, for me at least, falls pretty much either into the area of damaged mental health or it denotes plain and ugly cowardice, utter irresponsibility, and a failure to even grasp the monumental chance one's been offered in experiencing life.

While the cases involving mentally affected people raise pertinent moral, social and scientific questions (it's hard to fight a malfunctioning brain), I can say that I truly despise casual suicide of the second type, just like I despise the martyrdom seekers. If it was only for the suicide himself/herself kissing his/her life goodbye and successfully qualifying for a Darwin Award, I swear I wouldn't sweat a brow. By all means, clean the gene pool of humanity and feed the worms!

However, what I cannot understand is this: how low a human being one can be to act as a life taker for innocent people around him/her, like the poor 5 years-old being in this sad story clearly was? As much as I understand that there might be some alien cultural "subtleties" - that I don't even consider of trying to grasp - humans are humans everywhere on this planet. What makes somebody think that if they're a failure others will automatically follow the same fate? Why aren't they men/women right up till the end and leave this world on their own, without dragging innocents along with them?

IF the police estimation of this particular case is sound and I had the means, I swear I'd revive all three of them, give the boy new memories and a fresh chance to fulfill his life. As for those "parents", 20 years in prison, execution, resurrection; repeat three times, minus the last revival. Keep memory intact. That way, they couldn't say they didn't live their share of sorry life!

The only party for which I really feel sorry is their elders, who probably didn't deserve to live through this tragic mess they left behind.

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Words fail. Glad the parents are dead after having murdered their child, its what they deserve anyway.

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I can't believe I agree with Sarge.

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When will the government realise that a fully fledged social services operation is desperately in need? Plus a nationwide education campaign teaching everyone that counselling is a good thing and that it should not be seen as anything other than beneficial...

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Investigate this and all other Japanese suicides as homicides, You will find these people were hammered into submission by an unjust society with no help from police or city hall, shunned into submission or death. killing ones self socially other than physically. a member of society who is rejected and shunned for life in Japan!

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Suicide was thought of as an honorable way out of an inhonorable situation in Japanese history. Is it still like that, in the opinions of Japanese readers?

It's the economy, folks. I read that suicides have shot up from the seven hundreds last year to tens of thousands this year.

Disparagement of the possible murders aside, style points awarded for hanging themselves instead of inconveniencing densha passengers, endangering neighbors with deadly chemical fumes, or endangering passers-by with their falling bodies.

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Absolutely tragic. I agree with knews -- if this is a murder/suicide, it's one of the more brutal and clinical of the sort in recent memory. There is nothing fast or impartial about death by hanging. The nooses need to be tied, the ropes knotted to the tree, the heads passed through the noose, the bodies dropped...

That's not a spur-of-the-moment decision fueled by a surge of negative emotion. That's pre-meditated, planned action. I wonder how much all three members of the family knew what was going to happen? The little boy... He wouldn't have known anything, and if he did he would have been too young to understand. I don't know which is worse -- if one or both of the parents planned this tragedy. Why couldn't they have left the child with his grandparents? Why did this have to HAPPEN?

I'll echo what other posters have said -- it is past time for the government to start implementing measures to effect social change to remove the stigma from mental health counseling and discourage suicide. Centuries of social stigma won't disintegrate overnight, but SOMETHING needs to be done. How many thousands more will die before someone respected and in power finally steps up and says, "My fellow Japanese, what are we DOING?"

Until that day comes, though, I want to encourage EVERYONE to do what you can at the grassroots level to change this cultural and social mindset. Please: educate, educate, educate! Stories like this break my heart, and I know I'm not alone in wanting to change things for the better.

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How many thousands more will die before someone respected and in power finally steps up and says, "My fellow Japanese, what are we DOING?"

I don't think such a person exists!!

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It's a long time tradition among these people to resort to suicide if they cannot make ends meet due to their pride. I'm sure if they were Christians, the suicide rates would drop dramatically.

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Please stop passing judgment on others until you are in their predicament. Each person, family, cultural and social background and circumstances differ. Do not impose your own values on others. Indeed, it is very tragic.

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