# Chilling Unsolved True Crime Mysteries You Didn't Know About

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 22 Oct 2025, 30 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO2570370730.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:19] On December 13th, 1982, nineteen year old David These and his
[0:23] family were gathered in their Manhattan apartment to honor his
[0:26] father's birthday. David had been acting strangely
[0:30] all afternoon, nervously flipping through TV news
[0:34] channels as if he were searching for or frightened by something
[0:37] he saw. His mother, Karen, later
[0:41] recalled her son seemed petrified with an inexplicable
[0:44] fear. During this period, the festive
[0:47] mood in the apartment quickly turned uneasy, but no one
[0:51] imagined it would be the last time they'd see David.
[0:54] Around 4:00 that afternoon, David stepped out into the
[0:58] hallway for a quick smoke break, telling his family he'd be right
[1:02] back. He never returned.
[1:05] In a matter of minutes, an ordinary afternoon transformed
[1:09] into every parent's nightmare as David thieves vanished without a
[1:12] trace. When David failed to come back
[1:17] inside after puffing on his cancer kazoo, his mother knew
[1:20] immediately that something was wrong.
[1:23] It was completely unlike him to wander off, especially in the
[1:27] middle of preparing a birthday dinner for his father.
[1:30] In fact, earlier that day, David had gone out to buy a gift for
[1:34] his dad and had even planned to help make a salad for the
[1:38] celebratory meal. For him to simply disappear
[1:41] during what should have been a happy family occasion was
[1:44] baffling and alarming. Karen stepped into the hallway,
[1:49] expecting to find David lingering, but he was gone.
[1:54] As minutes ticked by with no sign of her son, panic set in.
[1:59] The family searched their apartment building and then the
[2:01] surrounding block, calling David's name and asking
[2:04] neighbors if they'd seen the tall, lanky teenager.
[2:08] But no one had. Desperate, his parents contacted
[2:12] the police and a full scale search was launched.
[2:15] Officers and volunteers scoured Manhattan for any clue of
[2:19] David's whereabouts, checking hospitals, shelters and even
[2:23] morgues. Despite these efforts, the
[2:27] initial search turned up nothing.
[2:29] No witnesses, no accident reports, and no hints of where
[2:33] David might have gone. The lack of any evidence or
[2:37] sightings in those crucial first hours was bewildering to
[2:41] authorities. Friends and family were at a
[2:46] loss to explain the sudden disappearance.
[2:49] David was legally an adult at 19, but he still lived at home
[2:53] and hadn't mentioned any plans to leave or travel.
[2:56] He had left behind everything in his room undisturbed.
[2:59] There was no farewell note and no indication that he intended
[3:02] to be away for long. In fact, because he had stepped
[3:07] out so casually, he hadn't even taken any belongings with him
[3:10] besides the clothes on his back. Manhattan in the early 1980s was
[3:15] quite dangerous, but the idea that a young man could go
[3:18] missing in broad daylight outside his own home was still
[3:21] terrifying. In the wake of David's
[3:26] disappearance, Karen reflected on her son's behavior leading up
[3:29] to that fateful evening. By all accounts, David had been
[3:33] going through a rough patch. In the weeks prior, he had
[3:37] battled episodes of depression and anxiety enough that
[3:41] psychiatric social workers who knew his case warned that David
[3:45] exhibited tendencies against himself.
[3:49] His mother acknowledged that 19 year old David had been
[3:52] struggling with mental health issues and often seemed
[3:55] emotionally fragile. On the very day he vanished, his
[3:59] behavior had been particularly unusual.
[4:02] As mentioned, he was obsessively watching and switching between
[4:06] news channels on TV, appearing agitated and fearful of
[4:10] something he thought he saw or expected to see.
[4:14] While this does seem to point to a mental health trigger to his
[4:17] disappearance, investigators noted that there was no evidence
[4:20] that David took any actions against himself.
[4:26] Even more chilling was a revelation that came out a few
[4:28] months after the disappearance. In May 1983, Karen shared with a
[4:34] reporter that David had allegedly received threats in
[4:37] the period leading up to his disappearance.
[4:40] David didn't specify who made these threats or why, but this
[4:44] detail cast a new and frightening light on David's
[4:47] mindset. Karen, unfortunately, doesn't
[4:50] appear to have dug deep, or David wasn't willing to explain.
[4:54] But at any rate, the nature of these forces is unknown.
[4:59] If David truly believed someone wanted to harm him, it might
[5:03] explain his palpable fear that day.
[5:06] Karen even expressed A belief that her son may have been
[5:09] abducted by a religious cult against his will.
[5:13] While this belief may seem like a mother attempting to cope with
[5:16] the harsh reality of what actually happened to her son,
[5:19] there was evidence to suggest this was the case.
[5:22] Tips began flooding in not from New York, but from California in
[5:28] the months following David's disappearance.
[5:31] More than 40 people contacted New York Police claiming they
[5:35] had seen someone matching David's description out in
[5:38] California. The tips indicated that he was
[5:41] selling trinkets on street corners and that he was spotted
[5:45] in the company of a group that was described as cult like.
[5:49] Investigators followed up on these California sightings as
[5:52] best they could. They coordinated with California
[5:56] authorities, checked shelters and St.
[5:58] Hangouts, and tried to track down the mysterious cult rumors.
[6:03] Unfortunately, none of these leads were ever substantiated,
[6:07] and the case once again went cold and years passed with no
[6:11] solid information. Then, around 1985, roughly three
[6:18] years after David's disappearance, a new glimmer of
[6:21] hope emerged. Several tips came in claiming
[6:24] that David, or someone who resembled him, was back in New
[6:28] York City, possibly staying in a Manhattan homeless shelter.
[6:33] The cops canvassed the shelters, but ultimately were unable to
[6:37] find this man who allegedly matched David's description.
[6:43] The question of what happened to David has led to substantial
[6:46] speculation over the years, and several theories have been
[6:49] debated by investigators and armchair sleuths alike.
[6:53] One theory is that David ran away intentionally.
[6:56] This idea is bolstered by his known emotional troubles.
[7:00] It's conceivable that David chose to flee to escape his
[7:03] problems, whether those were internal or external.
[7:09] Some have speculated that his belief that there were threats
[7:12] against him may have simply been a manifestation of his worsening
[7:16] mental state. If he fled of his own accord,
[7:20] the sightings in California and later in New York might actually
[7:24] have been him living off the grid.
[7:27] People who subscribe to this theory think David could have
[7:30] assumed A transient lifestyle to hide from whatever demons were
[7:34] chasing him, whether they were real or imagined.
[7:38] Perhaps he hitchhiked across the country, dropped his former
[7:41] identity, and survived by panhandling or doing odd jobs.
[7:47] The fact that none of the sightings were confirmed means
[7:50] we can't know for sure if they were real or mistaken.
[7:54] That said, they leave the door open that David might have left
[7:56] to start a new life or simply to get away.
[8:01] If he believed that there were people threatening him, he may
[8:04] have believed he was actually saving his family by dropping
[8:07] off the radar like he did. If this scenario is accurate,
[8:11] David might still be out there today.
[8:15] Another prominent theory centers on the idea of cult involvement
[8:19] or abduction. The notion that David fell prey
[8:22] to a cult has been fueled by multiple pieces of
[8:25] circumstantial evidence. First, the numerous tips about
[8:29] seeing him with a cult group in California suggests that at
[8:32] least some people thought he was in the orbit of a religious or
[8:35] fringe group. Second, David's own mother
[8:38] voiced her belief that a cult could have been responsible,
[8:42] going so far as to suspect he was abducted into such a group
[8:46] against his will. If David had encountered a cult
[8:49] in New York, it's possible he got entangled and was either
[8:54] brainwashed or coerced to leave his old life.
[8:58] Cults have targeted vulnerable young people since the dawn of
[9:01] time, and David being depressed and anxious definitely fit the
[9:04] bill. 1/3 possibility that must be considered is foul play
[9:10] unrelated to a cult. Essentially, that David met with
[9:14] some kind of crime or accident after stepping out.
[9:17] New York City in 1982 had its share of crime, to say the
[9:21] least, and it's conceivable that David could have stepped outside
[9:25] at the wrong moment. Perhaps he witnessed something
[9:28] he shouldn't have, or crossed paths with a dangerous person on
[9:32] the street. The fact that he was never heard
[9:35] from again could imply that someone harmed him that very day
[9:39] and concealed his body. However, as of now, no forensic
[9:44] evidence has tied any John Doe to David, and there's no
[9:47] evidence that he met with foul play regardless.
[9:53] Finally, some have wondered if David experienced some form of
[9:56] psychological break or amnesia that caused him to lose touch
[10:00] with who he was. In this scenario, David might
[10:04] not have intended to disappear but became disoriented due to a
[10:08] mental health crisis. He could have wandered away in a
[10:12] dissociative state and not known how to get home or who to call.
[10:17] If his memory or sense of self was impaired, he may have ended
[10:21] up living homeless under a different name, not realizing a
[10:24] whole city and family were searching for him.
[10:27] This is speculative, but cases of dissociative fugue have been
[10:32] documented and some people actually find that they enjoy
[10:36] their new fugue life more. Given that David was suffering
[10:40] from depression in his regular life, it could be that he
[10:43] decided to just continue on with living his new life.
[10:49] Over 40 years later, the disappearance of David Thies
[10:53] remains an open and agonizing mystery.
[10:57] As of today, David Thies would be in his early 60s, a far cry
[11:01] from the teenager who disappeared in 1982.
[11:08] It was a late October night in 2021 when 37 year old Melissa
[11:12] Trumpy walked out of her workplace in Monroe, WI and into
[11:17] the chilly darkness, never to return.
[11:20] Her disappearance quickly became a haunting mystery involving 2
[11:24] states, a troubled romance, and a community desperately seeking
[11:28] answers. Melissa's life in the months
[11:32] before she went missing was tumultuous.
[11:35] She had started dating 35 year old Derek Hammer in 2019, and
[11:40] friends say the relationship was toxic from the start.
[11:43] Hammer had a history of violence and crime, and he'd even served
[11:47] prison time in Nevada for the assault of a former girlfriend.
[11:52] Once he came into Melissa's life, family noticed negative
[11:55] changes. Melissa, who had no criminal
[11:59] record before, became entangled in Hammer's alleged substance
[12:03] activities. Hammer's influence was so
[12:06] consuming that Melissa's eldest daughter ended up taking on the
[12:09] role of caregiver for her younger siblings.
[12:13] In a frightening September 2021 incident, Melissa's kids
[12:17] witnessed Hammer pointing a weapon at her during an
[12:19] argument. Police were alerted and Hammer
[12:23] was arrested and charged, while Melissa herself was briefly
[12:27] arrested for minor substance related charges.
[12:31] A court then ordered Hammer to have no contact with Melissa as
[12:35] the legal case against him moved forward.
[12:38] Melissa was reportedly cooperating with police as a
[12:41] witness against her boyfriend in his pending cases, and
[12:44] everything seemed to be coming to a head as October 2021
[12:48] arrived. On October 26th, 2021, Melissa
[12:55] worked her evening shift and left around 10:30 PM with plans
[12:59] to see Derek Hammer. Despite the no contact order,
[13:03] she headed toward Shannon, Illinois, a tiny town across the
[13:07] state line where Hammer was staying at his mother's home.
[13:11] Multiple witnesses later confirmed that Melissa did make
[13:14] it to Shannon and was with Hammer at a residence there that
[13:17] night. That evening was the last time
[13:20] anyone saw her. When she failed to show up for
[13:24] work the next morning and couldn't be reached, her family
[13:27] knew something was wrong. The following day, October 27th,
[13:32] a disturbing discovery confirmed their worst fears.
[13:36] Melissa's vehicle was found abandoned on a remote rural Rd.
[13:39] near Freeport, IL. Her cell phone and purse were
[13:43] still inside the car, but there was no sign of Melissa herself.
[13:48] This evidence suggested that Melissa hadn't simply wandered
[13:51] off on her own. It looked more like she had been
[13:54] forcibly taken. Authorities from Illinois and
[13:58] Wisconsin immediately began searching the area with dogs and
[14:01] volunteers, scouring ditches, fields, and wooded patches for
[14:06] any trace of the missing mother. Despite the extensive searches,
[14:11] no sign of Melissa Trumpy was found.
[14:16] With Melissa Trumpy's disappearance looking
[14:18] increasingly suspicious, law enforcement agencies treated the
[14:22] case with urgency. The Carroll County Sheriff's
[14:25] Office in Illinois and Greene County Sheriff's Office in
[14:29] Wisconsin joined forces since Melissa's last known movement
[14:34] straddled the state border. Very quickly, Derek Hammer
[14:38] became the focus of the investigation.
[14:41] Even though police initially stopped short of naming him a
[14:43] suspect publicly, he was the last person known to have seen
[14:48] Melissa alive and had a clear motive to harm her since she was
[14:52] poised to testify against him. Sensing the danger, authorities
[14:57] took Hammer into custody almost immediately after Melissa went
[15:01] missing. Apparently, he had warrants
[15:03] outstanding on unrelated charges.
[15:06] Despite the fact that he was set to go to trial in October, this
[15:10] move ensured Hammer remained behind bars while investigators
[15:14] work the missing person case. To this day, Hammer has not been
[15:19] charged in connection with Melissa's case, but
[15:22] investigators in Illinois confirm they're treating her
[15:25] disappearance as a slaying. Despite extensive questioning,
[15:32] Hammer refused to cooperate or provide any helpful information
[15:35] about Melissa's whereabouts. Meanwhile, investigators
[15:38] executed more than 40 search warrants and subpoenas, analyzed
[15:42] cell phone data, and followed up on leads in both states.
[15:47] Over time, the evidence, or lack thereof, pointed toward a grim
[15:51] conclusion, and investigators concluded that Melissa was
[15:55] almost certainly not alive. The primary theory in Melissa
[16:02] Trumpy's disappearance is that she was slain by Derek Hammer on
[16:05] the night of October 26th, 2021. It's been theorized that this
[16:11] was possibly to prevent her from testifying against him or
[16:16] leaving him. This theory is supported by his
[16:19] known history of violence and the fact that there was nothing
[16:22] to indicate that Melissa was intending to leave on her own.
[16:26] As of now, however, investigators have not recovered
[16:29] a body or enough hard evidence to charge anyone, which leaves
[16:34] the case unsolved. Another idea is that someone
[16:39] else entirely was involved, perhaps connected to the
[16:42] couple's illicit activities, but no evidence has emerged to
[16:46] support that. Nearly four years have passed
[16:51] since Melissa Trumpy disappeared, and her family is
[16:54] still waiting foreclosure. In 2023, Derek Hammer was
[16:59] convicted on a number of unrelated charges and sentenced
[17:03] to five years in prison. During his sentencing hearing,
[17:06] the missing persons case loomed large.
[17:09] A prosecutor acknowledged in court that there is strong
[17:13] evidence Melissa is no longer alive, and Melissa's family gave
[17:17] emotional statements emphasizing the pain Hammer had caused.
[17:22] Yet even as Hammer serves time for his other crimes, no one has
[17:27] been held accountable for Melissa's disappearance.
[17:34] Tokyo's Kabukicho district never truly sleeps, but in the neon
[17:39] lit early hours of September 1st, 2001, a sudden explosion
[17:44] jolted this area into chaos. Within minutes, a narrow multi
[17:49] story building was transformed into an inferno, trapping dozens
[17:53] of late night workers and patrons inside.
[17:57] By the time firefighters extinguished the blaze five
[18:00] hours later, 44 people were dead.
[18:03] One of the worst fire disasters in Japan's modern history.
[18:08] Yet this horrific incident, now known as the Miyojo 56 Building
[18:12] Fire, is barely remembered globally given the events that
[18:17] would over shadow it just ten days later.
[18:20] Till this day, the authorities believe that this event was an
[18:24] act of arson by a single man who has never been brought to
[18:28] justice. In the heart of Kabuki Cho,
[18:33] Tokyo's notorious entertainment and red light district, stood
[18:36] the Miyojo 56 Building, a narrow 4 story structure packed with
[18:40] late night businesses. Around 1:00 AM on September 1st,
[18:45] 2001, an explosion rocked the building and ignited A fierce
[18:49] fire that tore through its upper floors.
[18:52] The third floor housed the EQ Mahjong Parlor, an illegal high
[18:57] stakes gambling den often frequented by off duty workers
[19:01] and gangsters. The 4th floor was home to a
[19:04] provocatively named club called the Super Loose Hostess Bar.
[19:09] Both floors were crowded with patrons and staff at that late
[19:12] hour. According to witnesses, a
[19:15] fireball ripped through the mahjong parlor when a staff
[19:19] member opened the door, suggesting a sudden backdraft or
[19:22] blast of flames. The explosion even punched a
[19:26] small hole in the building's front facade, and within
[19:29] moments, thick smoke and fire engulfed the top levels of the
[19:33] cramped building. Panic ensued inside as people
[19:37] realized they were trapped. The building had only 1 narrow
[19:41] staircase and no alternate emergency exit, a disastrous
[19:45] scenario. Once fire broke out, some
[19:48] desperate victims fled upward to the roof hoping for rescue.
[19:54] Others made the split second decision to jump from the third
[19:57] floor windows to escape the searing heat and smoke.
[20:01] Three employees actually leapt out and miraculously survived,
[20:05] though they suffered serious injuries.
[20:08] On the streets below, shattered glass rained down on fire
[20:12] engines and ambulances as first responders arrived to a scene of
[20:16] mayhem. Bystanders watched in horror and
[20:19] confusion, and some even tried to run back inside to save
[20:24] friends, shouting that people were still trapped upstairs amid
[20:27] the flames. Firefighters battled the blaze
[20:31] into the early morning hours, and it took five hours to fully
[20:35] extinguish the fire. When the smoke finally cleared
[20:38] in the early morning, the toll was devastating.
[20:42] A total of 44 people lost their lives inside the Myojo 56
[20:47] building. Many of the victims were found
[20:50] on the 3rd and 4th floors, overcome by fumes before they
[20:53] could escape. In the immediate aftermath,
[20:59] Tokyo's emergency teams and police swarmed the site to
[21:02] recover bodies and aid any survivors.
[21:05] Most of the 44 victims had succumbed to carbon monoxide
[21:08] poisoning from the thick smoke rather than burns.
[21:12] Investigators quickly saw that the building itself played a
[21:16] massive role, with numerous fire code violations coming to light.
[21:21] The stairwell, the only path of escape, was cluttered with
[21:25] storage items and blocked off, hindering evacuation.
[21:30] Automatic fire doors that should have contained smoke and flames
[21:34] were propped open or disabled, allowing poisonous gases to
[21:38] rapidly fill the upper floors. An official investigation later
[21:42] concluded that if those fire doors had closed properly, it
[21:46] would have delayed the spread of deadly smoke by at least 20
[21:49] minutes. As the city reeled from the
[21:54] disaster, attention turned to accountability.
[21:58] In the weeks following the fire, Japanese media scrutinized the
[22:01] building's owners and management.
[22:03] It soon emerged that the property owner, the Miojo Kosan
[22:07] Group, and the tenant businesses had repeatedly violated fire
[22:12] safety laws. Over the next year, police
[22:15] gathered evidence to charge those responsible for the
[22:18] hazardous conditions. Finally, in February 2003, Tokyo
[22:25] Metropolitan Police arrested six individuals connected to the
[22:29] building on charges of negligence resulting in death.
[22:33] Those arrested included two Miojo Kosan executives,
[22:37] essentially the landlords, as well as the operators of the
[22:41] Mahjong parlor and the Hostess bar.
[22:44] Prosecutors argued that their failure to maintain proper fire
[22:48] exits and safety equipment directly contributed to the 44
[22:51] deaths. Legal proceedings dragged on for
[22:57] years, but by July 2008, a verdict was reached.
[23:01] Five of the six defendants were convicted of negligence for the
[23:05] Kabukicho fire, receiving suspended prison sentences,
[23:09] meaning they avoided actual jail time.
[23:12] The sixth person was completely acquitted, which is much more
[23:16] rare under the Japanese system than it is under our common law
[23:20] system. While the courts address the
[23:24] safety lapses, the question of what actually caused the fire
[23:27] continued to hang in the air. Notably, the trial for the fire
[23:32] was simply for the negligent conditions in which the building
[23:35] and premises were kept. Initial reports on what actually
[23:40] caused the fire were inconclusive, and in the
[23:43] immediate aftermath, investigators refused to
[23:46] speculate publicly. Interestingly, early evidence
[23:51] pointed in different directions. For example, a broken gas pipe
[23:55] was reportedly found at the scene, raising the possibility
[23:59] of a gas leak explosion. Indeed, in the first days, some
[24:03] investigators thought a gas explosion might have been to
[24:06] blame, though further analysis ruled that out as the sole
[24:10] cause. By late 2001 and into 2002,
[24:15] authorities were hesitant to declare the blaze an intentional
[24:19] crime without solid proof. Instead, the public narrative
[24:24] focused on the egregious negligence of the building's
[24:26] owners. For a time, officials even
[24:30] suggested that arson was likely not the cause, implying the
[24:34] disaster could have been a tragic accident compounded by
[24:37] unsafe conditions. However, as the investigation
[24:41] progressed, suspicions of arson grew stronger.
[24:46] Rumors swirled almost immediately in Kabukicho's bar
[24:49] rooms and back alleys that the fire had a sinister origin.
[24:53] It didn't escape notice that the blaze started in an illegal
[24:56] gambling parlor and that organized crime groups were
[24:59] deeply entwined in the local nightlife scene.
[25:03] Police eventually came around to this view as well.
[25:06] In 2008, nearly seven years after the fire, Tokyo
[25:11] Metropolitan Police made a striking announcement.
[25:15] They had concluded the fire was most likely an act of arson
[25:18] after all, despite their earlier statements to the contrary.
[25:22] This reversal of the official stance came literally a day
[25:26] after the negligence trial ended.
[25:29] This suggests that once the criminal responsibility of the
[25:32] owners had been legally settled, investigators felt freer to
[25:36] acknowledge the possibility of foul play.
[25:40] The case of the Miojo 56 fire thus shifted from a mere safety
[25:43] tragedy to a full blown unsolved arson case.
[25:49] Yet identifying A culprit proved elusive.
[25:52] No arsonist has ever been arrested or charged, and the
[25:55] case remains unsolved to this day.
[25:58] Police did have at least one interesting lead.
[26:02] Eyewitnesses reported a suspicious man fleeing the scene
[26:05] around the time the fire started.
[26:08] This man was seen emerging from the building's front door amid
[26:11] the chaos, and he appeared to be injured as he vanished into the
[26:15] night. Investigators believe this
[26:18] unidentified injured individual might have been the one who set
[26:22] the blaze, perhaps getting hurt in the process.
[26:27] In fact, he was treated as the prime suspect once arson was
[26:30] suspected, but authorities were never able to track him down.
[26:35] That said, personally, I have to question whether he was someone
[26:39] who simply didn't want it known that he was hanging out in the
[26:43] area. After all, this was a high
[26:46] stakes gambling parlor with a House of ill repute located
[26:50] right above it that was known to be frequented by wealthy
[26:53] businessman. Given the context, many in Japan
[26:58] suspect that the fire wasn't a random act, but rather tied to
[27:02] the underworld conflicts of Kibukicho.
[27:05] The illegal mahjong parlor where the fire ignited was reportedly
[27:09] earning the equivalent to 10s of thousands of dollars a day in
[27:12] illicit profit. Such operations typically
[27:16] require paying protection money to local yakuza groups in order
[27:19] to operate in peace. If payments aren't made,
[27:23] retaliation can follow. It's known that at least one
[27:27] business in the Miojo 56 building had refused to pay
[27:31] extortion fees to certain crime syndicates causing trouble with
[27:34] gangsters in the months before the fire.
[27:38] This has led to a theory that the blaze may have been a brutal
[27:41] message, an act of arson as retribution or intimidation by
[27:45] an angry gang. Some have pointed fingers
[27:51] specifically at rival factions jockeying for control in Kabuki
[27:54] Cho. Around that time, Chinese gangs
[27:57] were also muscling into the district, sometimes clashing
[28:01] with the established Japanese yakuza groups.
[28:04] It's possible the gambling den got caught in a squeeze between
[28:07] competing criminal interests. In one interview, an alleged
[28:12] Chinese gang leader acknowledged knowing the building and
[28:16] admitted there were disputes over it between the Chinese and
[28:19] Japanese organized crime figures.
[28:22] However, he was clear that while it wouldn't have been unusual to
[28:25] torch the building, neither his group or his Japanese rivals
[28:30] would have committed such an act.
[28:32] His reasoning was simple. They're in the game to make
[28:35] money, not to burn down buildings full of people who are
[28:39] ultimately paying money to the criminals.
[28:42] And this makes sense. After all, a large fire would
[28:45] also bring intense police heat on the whole district, which is
[28:49] bad for business. Given the connection to gang
[28:52] activity, it's been speculated that the individual seen fleeing
[28:57] the scene may have been a rogue enforcer.
[29:00] When it was found out what he had done, it speculated that he
[29:04] may have been handled by his own people to prevent the whole
[29:07] organization from being torn apart.
[29:12] Over 2 decades later, the Miyojo 56 fire stands as a haunting
[29:17] mystery in Japan that isn't well known in the outside world.
[29:21] My own personal hypothesis is that the man seen fleeing the
[29:25] scene was indeed affiliated with one of the criminal groups
[29:28] fighting for control of the building.
[29:31] I suspect he may have went there to try to intimidate the
[29:34] business owners into complying with higher protection fees.
[29:38] To do so, he may have lit a small fire, not realizing that
[29:42] there was a broken gas pipe in the poorly maintained building.
[29:47] From there, I suspect he may have been silenced by his own
[29:50] people, or that he simply disappeared, pretending to be a
[29:54] victim of the blaze. Jimmy here once more reminding
[30:00] you to hit that follow button so you're always notified whenever
[30:03] I drop new content. Anyway, with that said, until
[30:06] next time, peace out everyone.

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