Police charge dead man with killing wife, 3 sons in Aomori

Japan Today
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 06:53 EDT
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/419243

AOMORI — Police sent papers to prosecutors Tuesday on a dead man who allegedly killed his wife and three sons in June in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture before later committing suicide. Although his motivation for the alleged murders is still unknown, the suspect, Hideto Sawada, has been found to have had several million yen in debts, including loans from a consumer credit firm, the police said.

Various other evidence also led investigators to conclude that Sawada killed his wife and sons before committing suicide, they said. According to investigations so far, Sawada, then 43, is suspected of strangling his 46-year-old wife Mayumi and their sons Naoya, 13, and Hikari, 6, with his hands and of fatally stabbing the other son Sho, 10, with a kitchen knife at their apartment between June 27 and 28. Sawada killed himself by cutting his neck with a utility knife on June 28 when police officers found him and stopped him for questioning in Iwate Prefecture.

© 2007 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

Man kills self after being probed over slain family

The Yomiuri Shimbun
June 30, 2007
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070630TDY02002.htm

A 43-year-old man reportedly killed himself Thursday afternoon, as police tried to question him after his wife and three sons were found dead at their home that morning in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture.

The police said they had begun searching for Hideto Sawada, believing he might know something about the death of his wife and three sons. He had also failed to turn up for work that day.

According to the police, Sawada was spotted by Iwate prefectural police in a car parked along a prefectural highway at about 4:15 p.m. in Ichinohemachi, Iwate Prefecture, about 40 kilometers south of his home.

(Jun. 30, 2007)

Father kills himself after family slain

The Asahi Shimbun
June 29, 2007
Source: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200706280396.html

HACHINOHE, Aomori Prefecture--A man killed himself by driving off a cliff after his wife and their three sons were found slain in the family's apartment here Thursday, police said.

The bodies of Mayumi Sawada, 46, Naoya, 13, Sho, 10, and Hikari, 6, were found by relatives who went to the apartment around 10:55 a.m.

The husband, Hideto Sawada, 43, did not report to work Thursday and his workplace had called to ask where he was, police said.

Police located Sawada in his car Thursday afternoon in Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture. When investigators approached, he crashed his car into a police cruiser, gashed his neck with a knife and then drove off a nearby cliff, police said.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died after 5 p.m., police said.

The bodies of the mother and Hikari, a first-grade pupil at Choja Elementary School, were in the living room, police said.

The bodies of Naoya, a second-year student at Choja Junior High School, and Sho, a fifth-grader at Choja Elementary School, were found in their bedroom.

Sho had cuts to his neck, while the others were apparently strangled, police said.

The family moved to the Kamikumicho district, about 5 kilometers east of JR Hachinohe Station, around 10 years ago.(IHT/Asahi: June 29,2007)

Man fatally drives car off cliff after questioning over deaths of 4 family members

The Mainichi Shimbun
June 29, 2007
Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070629p2a00m0na002000c.html

HACHINOHE, Aomori -- A man drove his car off a cliff and killed himself Thursday afternoon after being questioned over the deaths of his four family members, police said.

At about 10:55 a.m. on Thursday, Mayumi Sawada, 46, her three sons -- 13-year-old Naoya, 10-year-old Sho and 6-year-old Hikari -- were found dead at their home in Hachinohe by a relative who had visited them, investigators said.

Sho had a slash wound to his neck and the necks of the other three had signs that they had been strangled.

Local police searched for Sawada's 43-year-old missing husband Hidehito, believing that he knew the details of the incident, and found him in his car parked on a street in Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture, about 40 kilometers south of his home, at around 4:20 p.m.

Officers questioned him when he suddenly slashed his own neck with a paper cutter and drove his car off a cliff. The car plunged about 10 meters and he died.

Moreover, police are investigating his possible link to an attempted robbery of a pachinko parlor near his apartment at around 2:10 a.m. on Thursday as eyewitnesses reported having spotted a vehicle closely resembling his car speed away from the scene. (Mainichi)

Photo: Investigators examine Hidehito Sawada's car that plunged 10 meters off a cliff in Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture, on Thursday evening.

June 29, 2007

Woman, 3 sons found dead in Aomori; husband missing

Japan Today
Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 15:25 EDT
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/410749

AOMORI — A 46-year-old woman and her three sons were found dead Thursday at their apartment in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and they appear to have been murdered, police said. The bodies of the woman, Mayumi Sawada, and her sons Naoya, 13, Sho, 10, and Hikari, 6, all bore wounds, according to police.

Police said they are searching for the woman's husband, Hideto Sawada, in connection with the incident. Relatives found the bodies at around 10:55 a.m. Thursday when they visited the family's home after the employer of the husband told them he had been absent from work without notice, according to police.

© 2007 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

Police hunt for dad after mom, 3 sons found dead at home

The Mainichi Shimbun
June 28, 2007
Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070628p2a00m0na012000c.html

HACHINOHE, Aomori -- Local police launched a murder investigation on Thursday after a mother and her three sons were found dead at home, officers said.

Police are searching for the husband of Mayumi Sawada as he was absent from his office on Thursday and has gone missing.

A relative of the family visited their home in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, on Thursday morning to find that Mayumi Sawada, 46, and her three sons -- 13, 10 and 6 years old -- were dead. (Mainichi)

June 28, 2007