Photo/Illutration Jun Saito, center, the suspect in a triple murder on Christmas Day, in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, on Dec. 27, before his case was sent to prosecutors (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

HANNO, Saitama Prefecture--A surveillance camera mounted near the scene of a triple murder here on Christmas Day recorded the very moment the perpetrator began bludgeoning one of the victims with a blunt object, according to investigative sources.

In other developments, details emerged about the suspect’s childhood and aspirations of a career in the movie industry.

The suspect, 40-year-old Jun Saito, was a near neighbor of the family of three found dead on Dec. 25. The victims were identified as William Ross Bishop Jr., a 69-year-old American, his wife Izumi, 68, and the couple’s daughter, Megumi, 32.

In the footage, which recorded the outside of the Bishop family’s home, the perpetrator approached the house and attacked a member who appeared to have fled outdoors, the sources added.

Bishop died from blows to his cervical cord and the mother from hemorrhagic shock brought on by neck injuries. The daughter died of bleeding caused by neck injuries.

Saito lived about 60 meters from the victims’ home.

A search of his property by police turned up multiple objects that may have been used in the assault, in addition to blood-soaked clothes.

The case is now in the hands of prosecutors. Saito has initially only been arrested in connection with Bishop’s murder, but he is assumed to have also killed the other family members.

Saito has remained silent during police questioning about a possible motive.

PORTRAIT OF THE SUSPECT

He and his family moved into the Misugidai New Town community of Hanno shortly after the area was developed about 30 years ago.

At the time, he lived with his parents, an elder sister and a grandmother, according to his father, classmates and neighbors.

Saito played soccer when he attended junior high school and often mediated in fights between friends out of a strong sense of justice.

He appeared to be polite, never failing to greet people.

But he subsequently quit as a boarder at the private junior high school he attended as he had trouble fitting in and returned home.

He lived with his relatives until he left for the Kansai region to attend college. His parents divorced around that time, and some of his relatives moved away.

As a youngster, Saito was a keen movie buff and harbored “dreams of working in the film industry,” his father said.

Saito began shooting a film after graduating from college.

In 2005, his work was shown at a festival of short films held in Japan. The event was attended by director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose “Drive My Car” won the Academy Award for best international feature in 2022.

Saito was awarded a prize at a short-film festival, according to a film director acquaintance.

In around 2007, Saito’s proposal for a film received a subsidy from a movie festival aimed at nurturing young directors.

His film was about a young man infected with HIV who confides in a friend about his illness. 

He finished shooting in January in 2008.

But Saito became unreachable due to health issues that emerged while he was editing the movie.

The director, who was involved in the film festival’s management, visited Saito’s home in Hanno twice to encourage him to complete the work.

But the film never got finished and Saito did not go back to shooting again.

Neighbors said Saito lived at home alone in recent years and rarely socialized with them.

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