Documentary: The world evaporated in 40 seconds, known as the most bizarre disappearance case in Japan, how outrageous is it?
This is the first of the three major hidden incidents in Japan, 4-year-old boy Shinya Matsuoka mysteriously disappeared at the door of his home, ** tried his best, but he could not be found.
More than 20 years later, just when everyone was about to forget about this case, a man suspected of being Nobuya Matsuoka when he grew up appeared in a variety show, and he claimed to the camera that he was under house arrest in a basement by an uncle since he was a child and lived a miserable life. Is he Shinya Matsuoka? Who is the uncle in his mouth, and why is he imprisoned?
Mysterious disappearance.
The protagonist of this case, Nobuya Matsuoka, was born into a well-to-do family in Ushiku City, in southern Ibaraki Prefecture.
His father, Masanobu Matsuoka, is a software engineer who works for a large company with a high monthly salary, and he also has a 7-year-old sister and a 2-year-old brother. My father is usually very busy with work, so my mother Keiko takes care of them at home alone.
The place where Nobuya Matsuoka disappeared was not in front of his house. Instead, it is in Kenmachi, Tokushima Prefecture, which is about 750 kilometers away from his home, and it takes about 8 hours to drive.
Why did he go so far?
It turned out that just two days before the crime, on March 5, 1989, Nobuya Matsuoka's mother Keiko received a **, which was a relative of Keiko, and he brought bad news that Keiko's mother died of an illness last night.
Keiko was very sad when she heard this, because she was usually busy with the children, she hadn't returned to her parents' house to visit her mother for many years, and she thought that she would have time to go once this year, but she didn't expect the bad news to come so suddenly.
Matsuoka Masanobu hurriedly comforted his wife, and after she calmed down, Matsuoka Masanoka asked the company for a funeral leave, and drove his wife and children to Tokushima Prefecture for the funeral on March 6. It was late at night after the funeral, and the Matsuoka family was so tired that they planned to spend the night in Tokushima Prefecture and wait until dawn before driving home.
A relative of Keiko on the side said, "My house is nearby, or you can come and live in my house." Keiko's family accepted the kindness of a relative and stayed at her house for one night.
The next day, the day of the crime, Matsuoka did not return to Ushikushi with his wife and children as originally planned, because the relative said that they had finally come back for a long time, so they could relax around for a while.
The terrain of Tokushima Prefecture is mainly mountainous, and this relative's home is also on the mountain, surrounded by lush trees and fresh air, making it a good place to relax. So Matsuoka Masanobu took his three children and two children from relatives out to play.
It is said that there were no accidents on the way there, but when Matsuoka Masashi and the children just returned to the house, Matsuoka suddenly said that he wanted to play outside for a while. Matsuoka agreed, but he emphasized, "You can only play in this area at the entrance, and don't run to other places, you know?" ”
Seeing Matsuoka Nodding, Matsuoka Masashi returned to a relative's house with the other children, and at this time, Keiko noticed that Matsuoka Nobuya was missing, so she asked her husband what about the others? Matsuoka replied, "Playing at the door, he hasn't been out for too long, so let him play a little longer." Keiko said that she had already cooked the meal, so she asked Matsuoka Shinya to come and eat first.
So Matsuoka Masanobu walked out of the house again, but he looked at it and saw that Matsuoka Nobuya was not in the open space at the door, so he shouted Matsuoka Nobuya's name while looking around. Later, the screams alarmed Keiko and her relatives, and several people joined the search for Nobuya Matsuoka. But after two hours, I searched all the neighborhood, but I couldn't find him. So they could only call ** and explain the situation to the local **.
Near noon, ** rushed to the scene of the crime. They searched the surrounding area, but found nothing. So ** changed his thinking, planning to further understand the situation first, and then judge which direction to investigate.
Since Matsuoka Masanobu was the last person the child came into contact with before he disappeared, he was questioned first. When ** learned that Matsuoka Masanobu was just reminding the child not to run around, he went into the house, and couldn't help but be a little surprised. Is your father's heart so big, he is only a 4-year-old child, you don't stay to supervise him and only rely on verbal restraints, can you do it?
Matsuoka Masanobu hurriedly explained that he was going out with all the children at that time, and the youngest child was only 2 years old and not very good at walking, so he was afraid that he would fall, so he held him in his arms the whole time, so at that time he was thinking about sending the children back to his wife first, and then coming out to play with Matsuoka Shinya.
* Then he asked, "Do you remember how long it took between the time you went in and the time you came out to find him?" Matsuoka's reply surprised **. Less than a minute, he said.
*This has been repeatedly confirmed, and Matsuoka Masanobu insists on this statement. Later, he even gave a more accurate time, saying that it was only about 40 seconds.
How does a 4-year-old disappear in 40 seconds?
Several speculations. One thing is certain, Matsuoka Nobuya himself will definitely not be able to do it, so could it be that there is a trafficker or kidnapper who has been eyeing him early in the morning and abducting him when there is no one around him?
* A closer look at his surroundings revealed that the chances of traffickers abducting him were also extremely low. There is a long staircase not far from Shinya Matsuoka's house, and it is the only way down the mountain. If the traffickers want to abduct Matsuoka in a short period of time, they obviously do not rely on deception, but have to forcibly grab Matsuoka Nobuya's hand and drag him away.
If this is the case, Matsuoka Shinya will inevitably resist, which will undoubtedly make it more difficult for the traffickers to descend the mountain. According to this speculation, it is very likely that the trafficker was witnessed by Nobuya Matsuoka's father when he was at the ** level, but Matsuoka Masashi said that there was no one around at that time.
Even if the trafficker was a scud, he could really go down the mountain in 40 seconds, but at that time, Matsuoka Shinya was very close to the door of the house, as long as he called for help, the people in the room could clearly hear it, but there was no sound outside at that time. How can this be explained?
After ruling out two possibilities one after another, ** thought again, could it be that the beast attacked Matsuoka Shinya? There are large mountains and forests nearby, and it is not impossible to have jungle beasts, such as wolves, which may bite and kill and take away a 4-year-old child before he has time to react.
To find out if this is the case, it is very simple, just look around to see if there is any blood left by Matsuoka Nobuya and the footprints of wild beasts.
But the result was disappointing, but at the same time they were very happy. Disappointingly, no clues were found at the scene, which means that **'s speculation was wrong again. Fortunately, as long as it wasn't a beast attack, Matsuoka Shinya still had a chance to live.
Subsequently, the local ** invested more police forces and increased the search area, and even some enthusiastic villagers around learned of the incident and joined the search team. But after more than ten days of searching, the missing Matsuoka Shinya still couldn't be found. At this time, the people who participated in the search were demoralized, and they felt that they should never find him again. But there is still a glimmer of hope in the search.
At this moment, Nobuya Matsuoka's father chose to give up directly, planning to return to Ushikushi with his wife and two other children the next day, his move made the searchers stunned, thinking that as a father, it would be too irresponsible to give up like this, right?
*I also think it's strange that they carefully recall Matsuoka's previous behavior and feel that he doesn't seem to care about his child's disappearance, and has an attitude of "if you lose it, you lose it", which is not like the mentality of a father.
Could it be that Nobuya Matsuoka's disappearance has something to do with him? Because since he took a few children out to play, Matsuoka's mother and relatives have never seen Matsuoka Nobuya, that is, even if Matsuoka Nobuya disappeared on the way there, he can also say that Matsuoka Nobuya disappeared in front of his house, and there were no surveillance cameras installed in the vicinity at that time, so it is difficult to prove whether what he said is true or false.
*Later, I found an opportunity to meet the children who had gone out with Matsuoka Shinya and asked them if Matsuoka had gone back with them, only to have one child say that he had indeed come back with him, but that he had been at the back of the line, some distance away from them.
The other children did not speak, and based on the testimony of one person alone, ** could not see anything, and it was not certain whether Matsuoka Masabu had lied, and there was not enough evidence to prove that Matsuoka Nobuya's disappearance was related to his father, ** could only rule out his father's suspicion for the time being.
Just when the investigation of the case was at an impasse and the Matsuoka family was about to return to Ushikushi on the night, ** found a very strange clue.
Spooky follow-up.
This clue is not provided by someone on his own initiative, but ** was specially installed at the house of Matsuoka's relatives not long ago*** The purpose is that in case Matsuoka Shinya is really kidnapped by the kidnappers, it is very likely to receive a call from the kidnappers**, and you can make corresponding countermeasures according to the content of the recording.
Later, it was not a kidnapper, nor an ordinary person, but a very mysterious woman. She claimed to be a parent representative, and Keiko, who was connected to **, said that the kindergarten had learned about your son's disappearance and organized everyone to donate, she asked Keiko, "Where is this condolence money going to be sent?" ”
Keiko replied: I appreciate your kindness, I'm in Tokushima Prefecture now, but I'll be back tomorrow, so send the money to my house. The homeroom teacher should know the exact location of my home.
Immediately after that, the other end hung up**.
* Several things were found to be amiss from this call. First, there was no leakage in the process of handling the case, and the disappearance case has not yet been announced, and only his family, the police officers handling the case, and some nearby residents know that Matsuoka Shinya is missing.
But Matsuoka Shinya's kindergarten is in Ibaraki Prefecture, where did they hear about Matsuoka's disappearance? Moreover, the case of Nobuya Matsuoka's disappearance has not been closed, and there is still the possibility of finding Nobuya Matsuoka, and the school's act of providing condolence money is a bit hasty and unreasonable.
* found that during the call, the woman said that she was the mother of "Nakahara Mariko", and also said that her child and Keiko's child were in the same class, so ** went to the kindergarten to investigate, but the head teacher said that there was no student named "Nakahara Mariko" in her class, and there was no donation activity.
In other words, every word said by the woman in the ** is a lie. But why would she do it? **It is suspected that the woman may be the one who took away Matsuoka Nobuya.,The purpose of calling this call** is to confirm the next move of Matsuoka and his wife.
*I really want to find the person on the other side**, but because the criminal investigation technology was not mature at that time, **I couldn't trace the identity of the person who hit ** in reverse, so this clue didn't play a role in the end. Eventually, the investigation was abandoned.
To everyone's surprise, just when ** said they were helpless and no longer invested in the search for Matsuoka Shinya, the father Matsuoka Masashi, who was criticized by everyone for being "too indifferent", stood up again.
He quit his high-paying job and began to search for his son's whereabouts wholeheartedly. He printed his son's basic information into posters and distributed them around, and contacted the news**, begging everyone to give him some clues in the interview, and he would pay handsomely. With his unremitting efforts, he really got some clues.
Several informants claimed that they had seen a boy who looked like Nobuya Matsuoka, but strangely, none of them were in the same place, and there were even two of them separated by hundreds of kilometers. And there is a big contradiction in the descriptions between them.
Some people say that they saw a middle-aged man with a serious expression standing next to Shinya Matsuoka, and some people said that they saw him sitting in the passenger seat of a car, and the driver was a young man.
Others said that he was a clerk in a disc store, and saw Shinya Matsuoka buy a Titanic movie poster in their store, and he reacted at the time and chased him out, but Shinya Matsuoka disappeared into the street.
Although there are many clues, everyone's testimony is not clear and consistent, and it is almost helpful to find people.
It wasn't until 2018 that the broadcast of a TV program rekindled the hope of Matsuoka's family. That program was a special program of Japan's TBS Tokyo Radio, called "Urgent, Big Search!" Most of the guests in this show are people who have lost contact with their biological parents since they were children for various reasons, hoping to find their families with this show.
And a man with a yellow face and thin muscles appeared in the picture, according to the host of the program, the program team met this man in a department store in Aichi Prefecture at that time, the man was lying on the ground with dull eyes and a pale face, and the people in the program team asked him a lot of questions, but he didn't answer, so at first everyone thought he had an intellectual disability.
But then I came into contact with him for a while, only to find out that he had no mental problems, he said that he had just escaped, and had been locked in the room by an uncle before, and the uncle would bring him food and drink every day, ensuring that he would not die, but he was not allowed to go out, and he was trapped for more than 20 years.
At that time, there were several viewers in front of the TV set, who were insiders of the disappearance of Shinya Matsuoka, and when they heard that the length of time this person had been locked up was very similar to the time of Shinya Matsuoka's disappearance, and he looked similar to Shinya Matsuoka when he grew up, so he immediately told the family of ** and Shinya Matsuoka.
*Without the slightest hesitation, I immediately arranged a DNA test. What is surprising is that the results of the appraisal proved that he was not Matsuoka Shinya himself.
Of course, even though he wasn't Nobuya Matsuoka, he still asked him who the uncle who imprisoned him was and why he did this to him. But he couldn't even answer what the uncle's surname was and where he lived, which was really strange. But the details of this case have little to do with the case we are talking about today, so I won't go into too much detail here.
Later, some netizens on the Internet put forward a different conjecture, saying that the abduction of Matsuoka Nobuya could be a relative's family? Their reasoning was that the relative was not particularly familiar with Keiko, but invited Keiko's family to live in her house, and later kept them for a few more days, as if creating an opportunity to kidnap Matsuoka Nobuta.
But the problem is that Nobuya Matsuoka had no contact with his relatives before his disappearance, so how did his relatives abduct him? Netizens analyzed that relatives may have found an opportunity to talk to him before Matsuoka went out, do you want to tease your dad later? She saw that Matsuoka Shinya was more naughty and mischievous, and she would definitely be very interested in this proposal, and sure enough, Matsuoka Shinya said that he wanted to.
So the relatives asked Matsuoka Shinya to do what she said, and when he came back, he said that he wanted to play outside for a while, and then find a place to hide, and when the relatives and Matsuoka Shinya's parents went farther away to look for him, he returned to the relative's house to hide.
The place where he was hiding was known only to his relatives, who found an opportunity to return home and control Matsuoka Shinya, thus completing his plan.
This netizen's speculation can be said to be quite big, but it is obvious that there are big loopholes, and regardless of whether Matsuoka Shinya can really cooperate so much, what is the motivation of relatives to do this?