Sakamoto family murder

Sakamoto Family Murder
Sakamoto family cenotaph
LocationIsogo-ku, Yokohama, Japan
DateNovember 5, 1989 (1989-11-05)
3:07 a.m. – 3:20 a.m.
TargetSakamoto family (3 people)
Attack type
Mass murder, home invasion
WeaponsHammer, potassium chloride syringes
Deaths3
Victims
  • Tsutsumi Sakamoto, 33
  • Satoko Sakamoto, 29
  • Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, 14 months
PerpetratorsAum Shinrikyo members
MotiveTo prevent Sakamoto from suing Aum Shinrikyo
Tsutsumi Sakamoto
坂本 堤
Tsutsumi Sakamoto (right), wife Satoko (left) and son Tatsuhiko (center)
Born(1956-04-06)6 April 1956
Died5 November 1989(1989-11-05) (aged 33)
Cause of deathSuffocation
Body discoveredMarch 1995
OccupationLawyer

On November 5, 1989, Tsutsumi Sakamoto (坂本 堤 Sakamoto Tsutsumi April 6, 1956 – November 5, 1989), a lawyer working on a class action lawsuit against Aum Shinrikyo, a doomsday cult in Japan, was murdered, along with his wife Satoko and his child Tatsuhiko, by perpetrators who broke into his apartment. Six years later, following the 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway, the murderers were uncovered and it was established that the murderers had been members of Aum Shinrikyo at the time of the crime.