I honestly think that this poor kid darted off somewhere and fell into a storm drain. It's incredibly easy for little kids to get into situations that can kill them. When my brother was a toddler, my mom always gripped his arm tight whenever they went outside because if she let go, he would immediately speed off and jump into a dirty puddle. One time he ran towards a ditch and almost fell in. He would've died right then and there if some nearby older kids didn't stop him in time.
Yep, it quite famously happened in New Zealand a decade or so ago. The storm cover was left partly loose, it flipped when she stepped on it and she fell in, and then it was covered up again before they thought to look for her there. Little kids, especially of the 5 and under age group, can get themselves into trouble so, so quickly and so quietly. I hope his family get answers one day. :(
My dad had a cousin who was 6 years old, was running on the sidewalk and somehow tripped onto the street in such a way that she broke her neck and died. That was before I was born but it is truly very easy for children to die in such ways.
I don't know this exact location, but having spent a lot of time in the prefecture where this happened, I think this is unfortunately very likely. The drainage systems in rural Japan, especially in areas likely to get hit by typhoons, can be pretty extreme.
@@frostedlambs umm, the cousin is not because she is dead. If you’re talking about my dad, it happened when he was very young too so it didn’t have much of an effect on him.
I'm personally on the side of "wandered off and fell in a storm drain". Considering they've never been to the town before and nobody knew they were going to be there and the area is quite rural, the chances of someone looking to kidnap a kid is pretty slim. Not impossible, but slim.
It could have been a crime of opportunity, as most crimes are. Some sicko has an idea in his head to hurt a kid but doesn't make any specific plans about it, then suddenly there's a kid all alone and vulnerable and he gets scooped up into a car and that's it.
@@OrbObserver It is technically possible, however I still find it unlikely someone would be at the ready to kidnap a kid in under 20 seconds, without the dad noticing anyone in the general vicinity beforehand.
@@TenApplesforTime yep, and kids are SO quick to run away at that age. I know cause I have a kid that age. 😄 I need to run quickly if I wanna save my vases. I just pray this boy don't suffer - wherever he is. Peace to his soul. ❤
@@TenApplesforTime One thing we know is that people are really terrible at recalling specific times. The dad said 20 seconds but I'd bet anything it was more than that.
Are exposed storm drains a common thing though? I dunno what health and safety is like in Japan but, surely not though right? Surely they have some standards when it comes to not letting small children fall into lethal death traps right?... Right?
honestly, people who pretend to be the grown-up missing children need a sledgehammer to the head. Imagine the constant pain of being without the child who disappeared, then someone pops up claiming that it is them, only to be proven a good for nothing liar, it is by far the biggest insult anyone can possibly give. It pisses me off so much
calm down psycho. it doesn't look like this person ever claimed to be shinya, they just lied about being held captive. attention-seeking? sure, but that doesn't make them a terrible person.
Unfortunately these types of people are usually mentally not well. They are suffering from their own problems and sometimes have convinced themselves that they are the missing person/child not because they want simply want attention but because they truly believed it themselves.
I sadly feel like he probably wandered off and ended up in a grim situation... My mom often tells a story from when I was very little, around the age of Shinya, where I was extremely upset about us preparing to leave the beach after spending the day there. Despite over 5 teen to adult people being present, all it took was a few seconds with their eyes off me while packing for me to vanish. Not even looking over the crowd of people could they spot my hot pink swimsuit. Mom said they spent nearly 15 minutes looking for me before she found me walking along the shore, completely clueless about the panic I put everyone in and content to continue our beach trip. I have had anxiety about the ocean for as long as I could remember, not even letting my sisters take me into deeper waters (where they could stand but I couldn't), so i'm thankful my little self stayed on the shore. There's no doubt that without that anxiety, or my mom teaching us to be careful around the waves, I would have probably gotten in the water and been pulled out in the waves.
I went missing on the beach once, too, when I was five. I didn't know why I wandered off but it took my aunt looking away for five seconds for me to be gone.
When I was younger I went swimming with my brother to the deep end of the beach. We never realized we got caught in the riptide until we tried to swim back and couldn't. Thankfully some surfers saw us struggling and they came to save us.
I would bet Shinya darted right back down the stairs and tried to head somewhere he had found interesting during their walk. If they searched the yard first, the kid now has a head start. 8:15 in the morning, cops not contacted until afternoon. A police dog dispatched? If the report is accurate, that's a singular dog attempting to cover a lot of territory. There looks to be quite a bit of undergrowth in the forested areas, and I'd be surprised if they had enough people (let alone enough experienced people) to properly search. He also could have been victim to a hit and run at some point in there, with his body being hidden quickly. Even when you *know* someone has walked into a certain forest or was last seen on a certain street they can't always be found. So much time was lost that the potential area kept growing fast, we can't be certain of anything except his last known siting, at the top of the stairs, and an approximate time.
Yeah, him darting off and dying in an accident out of site before anyone could find him is most likely to me. Someone being able to kidnap him and fully vanish when he’s at the top of the staircase makes no sense to me/
It's very possible that the "disappeared in 20 seconds" is very inaccurate since we only have the statement of the family. My guess is that it took way longer until they noticed the kid was gone. They probably didn't do it with intent but guessing what amount of time has passed in any given situation is very difficult. My guess is that the kid ran off when he had the opportunity and ended up in a place where he shouldn't have and died of injury or exposure.
I've always been amazed at how people, no matter the age or place, can just vanish without a single trace. It feels unreal, but is horrifyingly common.
My first week living there a schoolgirl was kidnapped in broad daylight from my local train station, taken to an abandoned hotel near my apartment, and beheaded. It honestly made me not want to go outside being so close to me.
@@helenaww there was the famous kidnapping where the kidnapper left the severed head of the student at the school gates for the other students to see. The most I only ever had to worry about were men flashing my students on their way home from school. It’s true that crime is less in japan. But it still exist and unfortunately is pretty over the top sometimes.
@bodd boward local tv over 20 years ago. I’ve tried looking but can’t find anything online. Not saying you have to believe me, but being my first month in japan and so close to me it shocked me enough to not want to go out.
Small children in rural areas can also fall victim to large animals, like feral pigs or feral dogs. Pigs especially are known for leaving very little of a carcass behind when feeding.
I was just thinking the same. A small child alone in the woods would stand no chance against any wild animal. Pigs, like you mentioned, can digest almost 100% of a human body. The only thing that their digestive system won't destroy are teeth. The chances of finding baby teeth in woods like those is almost 0
It's one of those awful things where it really can't be determined if it was a kidnapping, an accident or anything in between. But it is just a sad fact that most kidnappings are perpetrated by a family member or someone close to the family, which gives credence to the phone call by a woman who seemed to know a lot. There are just too many other possibilities though
Nah , sometimes it's completely strangers unfortunately, my mom always tells me her childhood story where she lost her baby brother , some lady stole him when he was out with his mom and my mom ( my mom was only 11) , a complete stranger took him and after a couple of hours they found the lady who took him and her brother, unfortunately he passed away a few days after what happened, I guess the lady did something to him , like gave him the bad eye ... humans suck tbh
@@spookydeadite they said it's MOSTLY done by family members/people close to the family....they never said it's impossible for strangers to kidnap kids
i'm pretty sure the boy darted off as others have mentioned. When my brother was 5, i can't count the amount of times he darted off and disappeared whenever we were at a store shopping. 5 seconds from him walking next to you, to you looking at a product, to him being nowhere to be seen. Holding his hand became mandatory everywhere and he hated that. Some kids are very adventurous and smart. they watch you. they know your tendencies. The perfect opportunity coupled with childhood ingenuity is all it takes. in a different situation or environment, my brother easily could have fallen in a ditch somewhere or snatched or run over and never heard from again, which i think is what may have happened to little Shinya i'm afraid.
I unfortunately feel like the phone call is irrelevant. The most likely thing that happened is that the poor boy ran off and sadly most likely died due to exposure. Any other crazy happening in such a small town is seemingly unlikely. It's a really sad story, hopefully he's found one day and returned to his family.
@@billblaski9523 That's a good point considering that they were looking pretty hard right? I mean, I think considering how long he went missing, his remains would have decayed significantly, probably making him harder to spot, but yeah, I mean, strange nothing at all got found...
Toddlers move ridiculously fast, are inherently extremely curious and have zero self preservation instinct. The unfortunate most likely case is that the boy legged it and was killed
Such a sad story. Poor Shinya could have befallen any circumstance, whether it be an uncovered hole that was not properly secured or a random person that saw an opportunity to snatch up poor Shinya as they were in the area, possibly a neighbor as they would have heard and seen a car. As for Japanese television, they should focus on creating better content with much stronger restrictions! Who would create a missing person show with an additional layer of contestants?? That’s beyond bizarre! My heart breaks for all families that have suffered the loss of a child, no matter the circumstances. No parent should have to outlive their children, plus to carry the burden of guilt must be unimaginable. I hope that one day they are reunited with Shinya.
14:43 Long story incoming: I almost fell for a scam just like this a few years ago and I was young (about 22-23) and a bit naive when it comes to scams at the time. I got a random phone call from someone in spanish calling me cousin and the number was a Mexico number. I have relatives in Mexico but I'm not very close with them so I didn't have their number to confirm. After I asked who it was he kept pressuring me telling me "you don't remember who I am?" I eventually asked if he was a cousin who lived in the US for a few years that I hadn't seen since he left to live in Mexico again and from there he kept getting information from both myself and my mother who also got roped in (this cousin was from my dad's side and they're divorced) and using that same info to verify himself. He claimed he was coming to the states but needed a ride from the airport. As I waited at the airport entrance he claimed he was stopped at customs for having a large amount of cash he said he was going to use to buy a trailer here. He needed to borrow $300 to pay customs to release his money and would pay it back as soon as he had his cash. This was around the time my mother had a strange feeling and we decided to ask him something we both knew he didn't know, my grandmother's name. He became upset that I wouldn't trust him as we were "family." Eventually, he gave me a common Mexican name which thankfully my grandmother doesn't have and we knew it was a scam. Scary stuff and I've met others with similar experiences.
Dang that crazy, u actually went to the airport and picked him up? And what happened, some random guy showed up and was just like 'I need to borrow 300 bucks and I'll pay you back'?
This made me feel claustrophobic for some reason. Imagining walking into the house, handing the baby off and turning around and your child is completely gone in that tiny amount of time.
You always produce top quality, incredibly well researched, unbiased and original content. A rare gem. Thank you. 🖤 Also, I feel compelled to say anyone who would take advantage of a family who has lost a child is an utter pos.
I remember when I was a kid like 5 or 6. I always ran around I fell into a ditch full of thorns and I was stuck and crying. And my dad Friend found me and pulled me out of the ditch glad someone found me and helped me out
a four year old child can often tell you their parents' phone number - my mom certainly made sure i knew our home phone number from a very early age in case anything happened and i got lost, so i could ask for help. even if not, many children of that age have that kind of information on them, again, in case they get lost. would shinya not also know his sisters school name and group? what im saying is, it's totally possible that he was abducted and the abductor got the phone number and the information from him, then called his parents pretending to be from somewhere else to throw them off and make sure they would go away soon.
I do believe he ran off, whether he died accidentally somewhere or was kidnapped I can't say - I think it's possible the 40 seconds time frame might not be completely accurate but anyone who's had to keep track of a kid outside of the house can vouch for how quickly they can disappear
My parents lost sight of me in a Big & Tall store rack for five seconds and they nearly shut the mall down to find me in their panic, I can't imagine how these ppl felt because it does happen so fast that you lose eyesight of the child and they disappear, you don't mean for it to happen as a loving parent.
I agree with the comments. Most of us have tried to/were able to wonder off when we were little kids. Most of the time, kids are located within the hour. But unfortunately, sometimes it ends badly and the kid gets into a bad situation (usually an accident).
@@jirousguitar2912 it's not that. It's the calming tone of it all. ofc this case breaks my heart. But I was talking about how calm and soothing her voice is. Nothing to do with the child. Calm down.
Fascinating story- thank you for covering it! My favorite thing about you is that you don't exaggerate or play into the wacky theories. You use common sense, logic, and facts confirmed by research to report things as they happened. I truly enjoy your work ❤️
I always love these videos. Well made, great writing and narration, good research, and a lot of people I've never heard of instead of always hearing about the same cases all the time. Thank you! 💚
I seem to remember a case in the US (I think if I remember correctly) where parents reported a missing daughter only for the daughter to turn out having been killed by the dad and buried on the basement floor. The dad went along with reporting her missing to cover-up the murder. They only found out about the murder because the ghost of the girl appeared to the mum. Not sure though because I've been binge-watching true crime stories and ghost videos and I may have misremembered a ghost backstory as a true crime story. But that is a possibility, isn't it? Perhaps the child had been killed--accidentally or otherwise--by a family member and reporting him missing would explain a sudden disappearance and divert the focus of the investigation into a potential kidnapping or lost person rather than a potential murder or homicide.
No haha if I crime was solved because the ghost of the victim materialised themselves to deliver a message nobody would believe it (understandably since ghosts don’t exist) or it would make headlines as ‘paranormal evidence’.
I had that thought as well, but I don't think it applies in this case. They would have to fabricate that bizarre voicemail and get someone to make it for them and never reveal that secret. I just would never think to make something so cryptic when you just as easily could have made a ransom phone call instead. And to emphasis how quickly the boy went missing, I don't think someone would want to add to the improbably nature of the disappearance and instead make it seem like more of a possibility by saying the boy was alone for 3 minutes as opposed to 20 seconds. Plus, they'd have to keep this death and his body from the siblings, what are the odds he would die while alone and not with his siblings? Overall, I get the concept, but if I were doing that kind of crime I would not have made the decisions this family made which leads me to believe that they're innocent
My guess, as with other similar cases..the amount of time that passed was probably longer than the father calculated~ whether that's due to simple miscalculation, guilt, or some other factor who knows. I think reality is often a bit stretched in these cases. It could be a wrong presumption on my part, but it's just my two cents.
I also had the same thought instantly 20 seconds to completely vanish makes me think something happened to the boy whether intentional or not someone’s is lying
Ehhh I think people underestimate how much can happen in 20-40 seconds, it's not a lot of time but definitely long enough for a kid to wander out of sight.
Absolutely. You obviously can't fault him, he's probably guilty or just ignorant to the actual amount of time that passed. Especially considering that he went in to the mother and I just can't see it being a hand off and then going back outside. More like a quick conversation like "finally" or "yeah he's outside" or even "what are we having for dinner tonight." I'd reckon the time the father was in the house was closer to 1 - 3 minutes but who knows
stories like this and marjorie west's scares me the most. yes, the children most likely just wandered off and perished from the elements, but they *completely* vanish. no scraps of clothes, no bodies, nothing. all by accident, and all with their family an arm's length away
I think one of the craziest things is one day, someone somehow will find this little boys bones and will finally be able to put him to rest, maybe he has already been found but no one knows who he is
This is very similar to a case where I live but they believe the boy made his way to a nearby River and fell in and was carried out to sea. Children need constant supervision unfortunately because they are so unpredictable
reignbot i just want to say your videos are all amazing. i watch many true crime type channels and no matter what what you bring attention to are cases i never have heard of before. many true crime channels just focus on the same american cases so I just want to say it's amazing how you bring more attention to cases outside of the states. it really makes me see how eurocentric much of true crime and youtube as a whole is.
they should've checked first about the woman with the school but i understand they thought they would trust someone when their kid is vanished as they were quite desperate to find their kid
I love the recommendations you made in the beginning of the video. I had shudder and never really watched much because I didn’t even know where to start. I think I’ll get again with these recommendations in mind!
This is case has me obsessed. How could a little boy just vanish? I do believe that someone took Shinya. I hope that his family finds the right answers. Blessings
There seems to be an extremely common explanation that was overlooked here: the parents made up the story of him disappearing in broad daylight. It's possible he could have died by accident or was killed, but either way they could have tried to cover it up by saying he disappeared out of nowhere.
I mean you only have the fathers word that it was 20 seconds. He could have come home completely without the boy. (I dont know what happened so this is just a suggestion out of the blue)
I think she didn't bring it up because there's no evidence for it and just imagine being the parents in this situation and you see some people online or in real life saying you were actually the reason for your kids disappearance, it would suck and make you feel like shit. Not saying it's not possible I think that's why she didn't wanna go there.
The North Korean theory is pretty shaky, being as a 4 year old would be of no conceivable use to the Kim regime. I believe Megumi Yokota was the youngest abductee, and she was 13, but I might be wrong.
@@kaniq6120 It appears they wanted to have Japanese people teach their agents the language and culture, because they wanted to better infiltrate the country, which has always been an enemy of North Korea. They also kidnapped an even greater number of people from South Korea.
yeah i was thinking that too. plus megumi's kidnappers likely took her by mistake, either thinking she was an adult or not understanding their orders. there's no way that could've happened with shinya since there's no visual ambiguity between an adult and a four year old, and i would imagine nobody whose job is to kidnap people for north korea would be stupid enough to think a toddler would be useful to them in any way.
People doubting the 20 second time frame clearly hasn't experience walking/ watching over a toddler or a very young child outside of their homes. 20 seconds of not looking after a kid, especially if they are energetic can already lead to A LOT of possible accidents to occur. Even inside a house. A toddler can possibly get hurt during that time frame with no supervision when they are walking/running around. That is why baby proofing is a thing in households. Heck, if you microwave a food in 20 seconds, you can already do so much like pour a bottle of water whilst mixing it with powdered milk.
For kids 20seconds are exactly what they need to run out in or to something…so you can’t say just 20 second because it’s enough time for them to just disappear…and honestly if you have little kids than just watch them constantly without brake.
I watched The Wailing the other night and it was SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Just thought I'd add my recommendation here because you mentioned it in your sponsorship.
It’s terrifying to think any of us could have been a kid that disappeared when we were younger… one time at a beach with my family there was a very thick fog that blanketed the entire area. We were sitting in our beach chairs when I decided to get up and just walked away. It was only a matter of seconds until I was swallowed by the fog and just *gone.* I didn’t know at the time but apparently my mother glanced over, saw the empty chair, and immediately began to panic. They spent half an hour searching frantically and screaming for me, but the fog was so thick that I could have been anywhere and they wouldn’t have seen me, and the sounds of other families was too loud, I couldn’t hear them all the way at the edge of the water where I was. They found me eventually, thank god, but it could have ended so differently…
A big fan of your channel and content, not only because of the topics which you choose to cover, but also because of your narration, scripting and eloquence. Keep on keeping on and thanks for bringing light to something that the most of the "mainstream TH-camrs" don't, this is the reason why you have the following that you do. Respect and best wishes from Iceland
I nearly suffered similar fate when I was in primary school in year 3 I decided to walk out the gates and there was a maintenance guy there and he didn’t even give two shits I just left the school then nearly got hit by a car and went into theses fields and near those fields was a really massive forest calling Epping forest with swamps and I nearly went deep inside there but thank fuck someone found me and brought me to safety…. Yes the school I went to was very crap it got broken into multiple times and the teachers were really mean and rude!
I live in Japan and I visit a remote countryside town like this basically every year. Whenever I think of this case, I think of the hawks and birds out in the forests. You can sometimes see from 2 to 10 or so just flying around near the mountains in remote towns they fly pretty silently. I haven't really ever seen this discussed but it is not heard of for a raptor like that to grab a child and fly off. I think, this is one of the only things that makes sense for a forty second disappearance.
This case reminds me of the Takenoko Girl disappearance that happened in Tokyo, I think the girl was even a similar age. She and her mother were picking bamboo shoots in the woods in Tokyo and she ran ahead of her mother, who only lost sight of her for a few seconds. Once her mother caught back up with her less than a minute later, it was as if she’d vanished. It’s an interesting story, and oddly similar to this one.
I'm guessing the actual length of time everyone had their eyes off the kid was quite a bit longer than 20 seconds. A toddler isn't getting far in 20 seconds, if it'd been only that long his dad could probably have just walked around the outside of the house and found him. No, I'm thinking more like a minute, maybe more. Nobody likes to admit being careless and allowing their kids to wander off, especially if something actually happens to them as a result. A minute is long enough for the boy to wander off and make a turn somewhere or fall down the side of a hill never to be seen again. He could of course have been snatched too. Especially if I'm right and he was hanging around outside the house for significantly longer than 20 seconds. I mean, he could have got snatched in 20 seconds as well, all a kidnapper would need to do is drive up and grab the kid before driving off. But 20 seconds isn't all that much time for a passing kidnapper to go "OH LOOK, AN UNACCOMPANIED CHILD FOR ME TO KIDNAP!" and lean out their window to yoink them into the car. A kidnapper could also have been following them on foot as well, but then they'd have been close enough to potentially get spotted and after the kidnapping they'd have to get far enough away on foot in a short window of time not to be seen or for the kid's dad to hear him making a commotion. So yeah, probably longer than 20 seconds however you look at it.
As far as the phone call, could it be that the person was indeed living in Ibaraki but had originally come from Tokushima (which would explain the accent) and had family still living in the area, who then told her about Shinya’s disappearance before it had widespread news coverage? It wouldn’t explain much of anything else and overall I’m sure the person was just a scammer or really cruel prankster, but the particular combination of factors mentioned doesn’t seem so unlikely to me.
Did the authorities check the surrounding storm drains n stuff in the area for a body?? His remains could still be there if they never checked. At least they could get some closure
It's now bee almost 34 Years since Shinya's disappearance.. Man. If he's out there, I wish safety for him. And, I wish closure for his family. Lord knows how distraught his poor parents were/are.
In my opinion…this case has too many questions to determine what really happened. My best guess is the kid simply ran off, got lost, and fell somewhere. And that’s the best case scenario - could’ve been attacked by some kind of animal, could’ve been kidnapped and killed. But the area was too large, and they took too long while using too little resources. By the time they started searching, he was most likely far gone and dead somewhere. And if not, he was simply trapped in a place where no one was able to get to. Plus, small communities are actually the places where things like this happen all the time. People go missing, are kidnapped, and/or are killed. All without the townsfolk getting involved, it’s simply people trying to live and survive so they’re gonna be far more secluded than places like cities. Even if smaller places are more ‘close’, it’s most likely that everyone in the area will be in on it anyways so they won’t speak up on it. What’s sad is all the pointless/false leads and fakers, the family deserved far better than that.
someone else suggested he had a run in with a wild boar or something which to me would make a ton of sense. not to be too grisly, but pigs can and will leave very little evidence of an adult human body if they get a hold of one, let alone a four year old. if shinya accidentally disturbed a wild pig, especially a mother with piglets to protect, i dont think there'd be much if anything left of him.
I honestly think that this poor kid darted off somewhere and fell into a storm drain. It's incredibly easy for little kids to get into situations that can kill them. When my brother was a toddler, my mom always gripped his arm tight whenever they went outside because if she let go, he would immediately speed off and jump into a dirty puddle. One time he ran towards a ditch and almost fell in. He would've died right then and there if some nearby older kids didn't stop him in time.
Yep, it quite famously happened in New Zealand a decade or so ago. The storm cover was left partly loose, it flipped when she stepped on it and she fell in, and then it was covered up again before they thought to look for her there. Little kids, especially of the 5 and under age group, can get themselves into trouble so, so quickly and so quietly. I hope his family get answers one day. :(
My dad had a cousin who was 6 years old, was running on the sidewalk and somehow tripped onto the street in such a way that she broke her neck and died. That was before I was born but it is truly very easy for children to die in such ways.
I don't know this exact location, but having spent a lot of time in the prefecture where this happened, I think this is unfortunately very likely. The drainage systems in rural Japan, especially in areas likely to get hit by typhoons, can be pretty extreme.
@@iloveumorethananything omg are they alright now?
@@frostedlambs umm, the cousin is not because she is dead. If you’re talking about my dad, it happened when he was very young too so it didn’t have much of an effect on him.
I'm personally on the side of "wandered off and fell in a storm drain". Considering they've never been to the town before and nobody knew they were going to be there and the area is quite rural, the chances of someone looking to kidnap a kid is pretty slim. Not impossible, but slim.
It could have been a crime of opportunity, as most crimes are. Some sicko has an idea in his head to hurt a kid but doesn't make any specific plans about it, then suddenly there's a kid all alone and vulnerable and he gets scooped up into a car and that's it.
@@OrbObserver It is technically possible, however I still find it unlikely someone would be at the ready to kidnap a kid in under 20 seconds, without the dad noticing anyone in the general vicinity beforehand.
@@TenApplesforTime yep, and kids are SO quick to run away at that age. I know cause I have a kid that age. 😄 I need to run quickly if I wanna save my vases.
I just pray this boy don't suffer - wherever he is. Peace to his soul. ❤
@@TenApplesforTime One thing we know is that people are really terrible at recalling specific times. The dad said 20 seconds but I'd bet anything it was more than that.
Are exposed storm drains a common thing though? I dunno what health and safety is like in Japan but, surely not though right? Surely they have some standards when it comes to not letting small children fall into lethal death traps right?... Right?
honestly, people who pretend to be the grown-up missing children need a sledgehammer to the head. Imagine the constant pain of being without the child who disappeared, then someone pops up claiming that it is them, only to be proven a good for nothing liar, it is by far the biggest insult anyone can possibly give. It pisses me off so much
calm down psycho. it doesn't look like this person ever claimed to be shinya, they just lied about being held captive. attention-seeking? sure, but that doesn't make them a terrible person.
I agree this disgusting behaviour needs to Stop and to stop it there should be harsher punishment.
Unfortunately these types of people are usually mentally not well. They are suffering from their own problems and sometimes have convinced themselves that they are the missing person/child not because they want simply want attention but because they truly believed it themselves.
The guy never even claimed to be Shinya specifically. I don't think the violence you propose is a solution to this kind of situation.
>a sledgehammer to the head
Looking forward to seeing you as the topic of and in one of these videos!! 😁.
I sadly feel like he probably wandered off and ended up in a grim situation... My mom often tells a story from when I was very little, around the age of Shinya, where I was extremely upset about us preparing to leave the beach after spending the day there. Despite over 5 teen to adult people being present, all it took was a few seconds with their eyes off me while packing for me to vanish. Not even looking over the crowd of people could they spot my hot pink swimsuit.
Mom said they spent nearly 15 minutes looking for me before she found me walking along the shore, completely clueless about the panic I put everyone in and content to continue our beach trip.
I have had anxiety about the ocean for as long as I could remember, not even letting my sisters take me into deeper waters (where they could stand but I couldn't), so i'm thankful my little self stayed on the shore. There's no doubt that without that anxiety, or my mom teaching us to be careful around the waves, I would have probably gotten in the water and been pulled out in the waves.
Man you're a punk, I can't believe you did that
I went missing on the beach once, too, when I was five. I didn't know why I wandered off but it took my aunt looking away for five seconds for me to be gone.
When I was younger I went swimming with my brother to the deep end of the beach. We never realized we got caught in the riptide until we tried to swim back and couldn't. Thankfully some surfers saw us struggling and they came to save us.
I would bet Shinya darted right back down the stairs and tried to head somewhere he had found interesting during their walk. If they searched the yard first, the kid now has a head start. 8:15 in the morning, cops not contacted until afternoon. A police dog dispatched? If the report is accurate, that's a singular dog attempting to cover a lot of territory. There looks to be quite a bit of undergrowth in the forested areas, and I'd be surprised if they had enough people (let alone enough experienced people) to properly search. He also could have been victim to a hit and run at some point in there, with his body being hidden quickly.
Even when you *know* someone has walked into a certain forest or was last seen on a certain street they can't always be found. So much time was lost that the potential area kept growing fast, we can't be certain of anything except his last known siting, at the top of the stairs, and an approximate time.
Yeah, him darting off and dying in an accident out of site before anyone could find him is most likely to me. Someone being able to kidnap him and fully vanish when he’s at the top of the staircase makes no sense to me/
@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes that'd be weird if they said there was sight of him right?
And even if he wasnt hit. He could’ve easily fallen into a drain or got lost in a wooded path and died
@@GorillaWithACellphone So many bad things can happen so quickly, especially to small children. 🙁
The most terrifying things always happen in broad daylight.
I know right
prove it. prove ur from the future
@@cicadaz Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to.
@@IAmFromTheYear Yo, be ready. In just a few years you'd be wearing futuristic nun suits.
Yeah but it gets even worse at nightfall
It's very possible that the "disappeared in 20 seconds" is very inaccurate since we only have the statement of the family. My guess is that it took way longer until they noticed the kid was gone. They probably didn't do it with intent but guessing what amount of time has passed in any given situation is very difficult. My guess is that the kid ran off when he had the opportunity and ended up in a place where he shouldn't have and died of injury or exposure.
The thing is the corpse wouldve been discovered one day or another, no?
I've always been amazed at how people, no matter the age or place, can just vanish without a single trace. It feels unreal, but is horrifyingly common.
how is that amazing,thats horrifying 😐😐
@@optimx314 Amazement isn't necessarily a positive thing. It's a feeling of astonishment.
@@optimx314 smooth brained?
You should look into the missing 411
My first week living there a schoolgirl was kidnapped in broad daylight from my local train station, taken to an abandoned hotel near my apartment, and beheaded. It honestly made me not want to go outside being so close to me.
@Venus Labelle when I first moved there so would be 2000-2001
beheaded..? jesus christ that’s so fucking awful.
@@helenaww there was the famous kidnapping where the kidnapper left the severed head of the student at the school gates for the other students to see.
The most I only ever had to worry about were men flashing my students on their way home from school.
It’s true that crime is less in japan. But it still exist and unfortunately is pretty over the top sometimes.
Wtf
@bodd boward local tv over 20 years ago. I’ve tried looking but can’t find anything online. Not saying you have to believe me, but being my first month in japan and so close to me it shocked me enough to not want to go out.
Small children in rural areas can also fall victim to large animals, like feral pigs or feral dogs. Pigs especially are known for leaving very little of a carcass behind when feeding.
I was just thinking the same. A small child alone in the woods would stand no chance against any wild animal. Pigs, like you mentioned, can digest almost 100% of a human body. The only thing that their digestive system won't destroy are teeth.
The chances of finding baby teeth in woods like those is almost 0
It's one of those awful things where it really can't be determined if it was a kidnapping, an accident or anything in between. But it is just a sad fact that most kidnappings are perpetrated by a family member or someone close to the family, which gives credence to the phone call by a woman who seemed to know a lot. There are just too many other possibilities though
Nah , sometimes it's completely strangers unfortunately, my mom always tells me her childhood story where she lost her baby brother , some lady stole him when he was out with his mom and my mom ( my mom was only 11) , a complete stranger took him and after a couple of hours they found the lady who took him and her brother, unfortunately he passed away a few days after what happened, I guess the lady did something to him , like gave him the bad eye ... humans suck tbh
@@spookydeadite they said it's MOSTLY done by family members/people close to the family....they never said it's impossible for strangers to kidnap kids
i'm pretty sure the boy darted off as others have mentioned. When my brother was 5, i can't count the amount of times he darted off and disappeared whenever we were at a store shopping. 5 seconds from him walking next to you, to you looking at a product, to him being nowhere to be seen. Holding his hand became mandatory everywhere and he hated that. Some kids are very adventurous and smart. they watch you. they know your tendencies. The perfect opportunity coupled with childhood ingenuity is all it takes. in a different situation or environment, my brother easily could have fallen in a ditch somewhere or snatched or run over and never heard from again, which i think is what may have happened to little Shinya i'm afraid.
I unfortunately feel like the phone call is irrelevant. The most likely thing that happened is that the poor boy ran off and sadly most likely died due to exposure. Any other crazy happening in such a small town is seemingly unlikely. It's a really sad story, hopefully he's found one day and returned to his family.
Why couldn't they find his body tho?
@@billblaski9523 That's a good point considering that they were looking pretty hard right? I mean, I think considering how long he went missing, his remains would have decayed significantly, probably making him harder to spot, but yeah, I mean, strange nothing at all got found...
Toddlers move ridiculously fast, are inherently extremely curious and have zero self preservation instinct. The unfortunate most likely case is that the boy legged it and was killed
Such a sad story. Poor Shinya could have befallen any circumstance, whether it be an uncovered hole that was not properly secured or a random person that saw an opportunity to snatch up poor Shinya as they were in the area, possibly a neighbor as they would have heard and seen a car. As for Japanese television, they should focus on creating better content with much stronger restrictions! Who would create a missing person show with an additional layer of contestants?? That’s beyond bizarre! My heart breaks for all families that have suffered the loss of a child, no matter the circumstances. No parent should have to outlive their children, plus to carry the burden of guilt must be unimaginable. I hope that one day they are reunited with Shinya.
14:43 Long story incoming: I almost fell for a scam just like this a few years ago and I was young (about 22-23) and a bit naive when it comes to scams at the time. I got a random phone call from someone in spanish calling me cousin and the number was a Mexico number. I have relatives in Mexico but I'm not very close with them so I didn't have their number to confirm. After I asked who it was he kept pressuring me telling me "you don't remember who I am?" I eventually asked if he was a cousin who lived in the US for a few years that I hadn't seen since he left to live in Mexico again and from there he kept getting information from both myself and my mother who also got roped in (this cousin was from my dad's side and they're divorced) and using that same info to verify himself. He claimed he was coming to the states but needed a ride from the airport. As I waited at the airport entrance he claimed he was stopped at customs for having a large amount of cash he said he was going to use to buy a trailer here. He needed to borrow $300 to pay customs to release his money and would pay it back as soon as he had his cash. This was around the time my mother had a strange feeling and we decided to ask him something we both knew he didn't know, my grandmother's name. He became upset that I wouldn't trust him as we were "family." Eventually, he gave me a common Mexican name which thankfully my grandmother doesn't have and we knew it was a scam. Scary stuff and I've met others with similar experiences.
Dang that crazy, u actually went to the airport and picked him up? And what happened, some random guy showed up and was just like 'I need to borrow 300 bucks and I'll pay you back'?
This made me feel claustrophobic for some reason. Imagining walking into the house, handing the baby off and turning around and your child is completely gone in that tiny amount of time.
You always produce top quality, incredibly well researched, unbiased and original content. A rare gem. Thank you. 🖤 Also, I feel compelled to say anyone who would take advantage of a family who has lost a child is an utter pos.
I remember when I was a kid like 5 or 6. I always ran around I fell into a ditch full of thorns and I was stuck and crying. And my dad Friend found me and pulled me out of the ditch glad someone found me and helped me out
a four year old child can often tell you their parents' phone number - my mom certainly made sure i knew our home phone number from a very early age in case anything happened and i got lost, so i could ask for help. even if not, many children of that age have that kind of information on them, again, in case they get lost. would shinya not also know his sisters school name and group?
what im saying is, it's totally possible that he was abducted and the abductor got the phone number and the information from him, then called his parents pretending to be from somewhere else to throw them off and make sure they would go away soon.
Especially in 1989 I knew my house number as a lil kid too
I do believe he ran off, whether he died accidentally somewhere or was kidnapped I can't say - I think it's possible the 40 seconds time frame might not be completely accurate but anyone who's had to keep track of a kid outside of the house can vouch for how quickly they can disappear
My parents lost sight of me in a Big & Tall store rack for five seconds and they nearly shut the mall down to find me in their panic, I can't imagine how these ppl felt because it does happen so fast that you lose eyesight of the child and they disappear, you don't mean for it to happen as a loving parent.
I agree with the comments. Most of us have tried to/were able to wonder off when we were little kids. Most of the time, kids are located within the hour. But unfortunately, sometimes it ends badly and the kid gets into a bad situation (usually an accident).
I will constantly be impressed by how you can make disturbing incidents into a soothing nighttime viewing experience.
I love her voice.
@@cherijoseph7819 100% agree
So listening about other's pain is relaxing to you?
@@kurisu3000 its the voice my man
Ok creepo
These always are the best to take a nap to. Your voice is so soothing lol
I agree: she _is_ voice so soothing!
@@immortalsun LOL IM TIRED I RLY PUT "YOURE"
lmao i wasn’t sure if i was gonna nap until she uploaded this and now i’m like yep goodnight
how the hell can you fall asleep hearing something so disturbing. this isn’t asmr. it’s a missing child’s case
@@jirousguitar2912 it's not that. It's the calming tone of it all. ofc this case breaks my heart. But I was talking about how calm and soothing her voice is. Nothing to do with the child. Calm down.
Fascinating story- thank you for covering it! My favorite thing about you is that you don't exaggerate or play into the wacky theories. You use common sense, logic, and facts confirmed by research to report things as they happened. I truly enjoy your work ❤️
I always love these videos. Well made, great writing and narration, good research, and a lot of people I've never heard of instead of always hearing about the same cases all the time. Thank you! 💚
I seem to remember a case in the US (I think if I remember correctly) where parents reported a missing daughter only for the daughter to turn out having been killed by the dad and buried on the basement floor. The dad went along with reporting her missing to cover-up the murder. They only found out about the murder because the ghost of the girl appeared to the mum. Not sure though because I've been binge-watching true crime stories and ghost videos and I may have misremembered a ghost backstory as a true crime story. But that is a possibility, isn't it? Perhaps the child had been killed--accidentally or otherwise--by a family member and reporting him missing would explain a sudden disappearance and divert the focus of the investigation into a potential kidnapping or lost person rather than a potential murder or homicide.
No haha if I crime was solved because the ghost of the victim materialised themselves to deliver a message nobody would believe it (understandably since ghosts don’t exist) or it would make headlines as ‘paranormal evidence’.
I had that thought as well, but I don't think it applies in this case. They would have to fabricate that bizarre voicemail and get someone to make it for them and never reveal that secret. I just would never think to make something so cryptic when you just as easily could have made a ransom phone call instead. And to emphasis how quickly the boy went missing, I don't think someone would want to add to the improbably nature of the disappearance and instead make it seem like more of a possibility by saying the boy was alone for 3 minutes as opposed to 20 seconds. Plus, they'd have to keep this death and his body from the siblings, what are the odds he would die while alone and not with his siblings?
Overall, I get the concept, but if I were doing that kind of crime I would not have made the decisions this family made which leads me to believe that they're innocent
You should do an MMIW/G video. I'm sure there are (unfortunately) rather infamous cases relating to that subject
what does MMIW/G stand for?
@@renofthewind missing & murdered indigenous women/girls
My guess, as with other similar cases..the amount of time that passed was probably longer than the father calculated~ whether that's due to simple miscalculation, guilt, or some other factor who knows.
I think reality is often a bit stretched in these cases. It could be a wrong presumption on my part, but it's just my two cents.
I agree, 20 seconds seems too short for him to vanish and not have heard or seen anything
I also had the same thought instantly 20 seconds to completely vanish makes me think something happened to the boy whether intentional or not someone’s is lying
Ehhh I think people underestimate how much can happen in 20-40 seconds, it's not a lot of time but definitely long enough for a kid to wander out of sight.
Absolutely. You obviously can't fault him, he's probably guilty or just ignorant to the actual amount of time that passed. Especially considering that he went in to the mother and I just can't see it being a hand off and then going back outside. More like a quick conversation like "finally" or "yeah he's outside" or even "what are we having for dinner tonight." I'd reckon the time the father was in the house was closer to 1 - 3 minutes but who knows
stories like this and marjorie west's scares me the most. yes, the children most likely just wandered off and perished from the elements, but they *completely* vanish. no scraps of clothes, no bodies, nothing. all by accident, and all with their family an arm's length away
Very scary incident thank you reignbot for another great video. That’s so sad but a very real issue all the same
I think one of the craziest things is one day, someone somehow will find this little boys bones and will finally be able to put him to rest, maybe he has already been found but no one knows who he is
I love Shudder, been a member since 2015 when it was launched. Great horror movies you sometimes can't watch somewhere else.
This is very similar to a case where I live but they believe the boy made his way to a nearby River and fell in and was carried out to sea. Children need constant supervision unfortunately because they are so unpredictable
reignbot i just want to say your videos are all amazing. i watch many true crime type channels and no matter what what you bring attention to are cases i never have heard of before.
many true crime channels just focus on the same american cases so I just want to say it's amazing how you bring more attention to cases outside of the states. it really makes me see how eurocentric much of true crime and youtube as a whole is.
I'm glad to see that you do all the leg work yourself now.
Your presentations are much better when they're your own words.
they should've checked first about the woman with the school but i understand they thought they would trust someone when their kid is vanished as they were quite desperate to find their kid
I love the recommendations you made in the beginning of the video. I had shudder and never really watched much because I didn’t even know where to start. I think I’ll get again with these recommendations in mind!
That phone scam is known as the "俺だ、俺だ！" scam, or "it's me, it's me!"
This is case has me obsessed. How could a little boy just vanish? I do believe that someone took Shinya. I hope that his family finds the right answers. Blessings
Stopped the video I was watching instantly when I got this notification lol
Same!
There seems to be an extremely common explanation that was overlooked here: the parents made up the story of him disappearing in broad daylight. It's possible he could have died by accident or was killed, but either way they could have tried to cover it up by saying he disappeared out of nowhere.
It's possible.
Yeah? Why wasn't this discussed?
@@angelabernal4076 Just because it wasn't discussed in the video by Reignbot does not mean it has not been considered
I mean you only have the fathers word that it was 20 seconds. He could have come home completely without the boy. (I dont know what happened so this is just a suggestion out of the blue)
I think she didn't bring it up because there's no evidence for it and just imagine being the parents in this situation and you see some people online or in real life saying you were actually the reason for your kids disappearance, it would suck and make you feel like shit. Not saying it's not possible I think that's why she didn't wanna go there.
You saying "Jimmy is that you" made me laugh way to hard lmao!!
Watching from West Yorkshire, Thank you Reignbot for your quality content.
Hello my fellow West Yorkshire fellow. I am too watching from West Yorkshire 😊 😊
@@Forflipsake Hello neighbour! lol I'm in Leeds.
The North Korean theory is pretty shaky, being as a 4 year old would be of no conceivable use to the Kim regime. I believe Megumi Yokota was the youngest abductee, and she was 13, but I might be wrong.
Why do it at all though?
@@kaniq6120 It appears they wanted to have Japanese people teach their agents the language and culture, because they wanted to better infiltrate the country, which has always been an enemy of North Korea. They also kidnapped an even greater number of people from South Korea.
yeah i was thinking that too. plus megumi's kidnappers likely took her by mistake, either thinking she was an adult or not understanding their orders. there's no way that could've happened with shinya since there's no visual ambiguity between an adult and a four year old, and i would imagine nobody whose job is to kidnap people for north korea would be stupid enough to think a toddler would be useful to them in any way.
I'm so happy you mentioned Ginger Snaps! That's one of my all time favourite movies!!!
This is exactly how I'd picture someone noclipping into the backroom. Scary stuff.
People doubting the 20 second time frame clearly hasn't experience walking/ watching over a toddler or a very young child outside of their homes. 20 seconds of not looking after a kid, especially if they are energetic can already lead to A LOT of possible accidents to occur. Even inside a house. A toddler can possibly get hurt during that time frame with no supervision when they are walking/running around. That is why baby proofing is a thing in households.
Heck, if you microwave a food in 20 seconds, you can already do so much like pour a bottle of water whilst mixing it with powdered milk.
stories like this always make me so sad :(
The father probably still blames himself for this.
For kids 20seconds are exactly what they need to run out in or to something…so you can’t say just 20 second because it’s enough time for them to just disappear…and honestly if you have little kids than just watch them constantly without brake.
It's aaalways a good moment for a new reignbot video!! I was truly stoked seeing this 😍👏🏾
An even greater mystery: I always stay for the Patreons list read-out.
I watched The Wailing the other night and it was SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Just thought I'd add my recommendation here because you mentioned it in your sponsorship.
That was a great movie!
It’s terrifying to think any of us could have been a kid that disappeared when we were younger… one time at a beach with my family there was a very thick fog that blanketed the entire area. We were sitting in our beach chairs when I decided to get up and just walked away. It was only a matter of seconds until I was swallowed by the fog and just *gone.* I didn’t know at the time but apparently my mother glanced over, saw the empty chair, and immediately began to panic. They spent half an hour searching frantically and screaming for me, but the fog was so thick that I could have been anywhere and they wouldn’t have seen me, and the sounds of other families was too loud, I couldn’t hear them all the way at the edge of the water where I was. They found me eventually, thank god, but it could have ended so differently…
I know a million subs is really good and impressive, but I just feel like your content deserves way more than that.
Shinya Matsuoka's Bizarre Adventure
Love chilling and binging through these ReignBot videos 👻
Hope everyone watching has a wonderful night, much love 😊
A big fan of your channel and content, not only because of the topics which you choose to cover, but also because of your narration, scripting and eloquence. Keep on keeping on and thanks for bringing light to something that the most of the "mainstream TH-camrs" don't, this is the reason why you have the following that you do. Respect and best wishes from Iceland
Reign your grandma voice had me dying
I was about to fall asleep when reignbot did the grandma voice😭😭😭😭
Poor kid probably just wandered off. Toddlers are impressively quick to disappear.
Seconding that Noroi recc. Hands down the best horror movie I have ever seen.
You def have awesome content and I love your voice, it's both soothing and somewhat sinister at once. Keep up the amazing work
This is like a Missing 411 case. Absolutely crazy
Straight up, shudder is the only streaming service I watch.
Love you Reinbot! Thank you
I nearly suffered similar fate when I was in primary school in year 3 I decided to walk out the gates and there was a maintenance guy there and he didn’t even give two shits I just left the school then nearly got hit by a car and went into theses fields and near those fields was a really massive forest calling Epping forest with swamps and I nearly went deep inside there but thank fuck someone found me and brought me to safety…. Yes the school I went to was very crap it got broken into multiple times and the teachers were really mean and rude!
babe wake up, reignbot just uploaded the Shinya Matsuoka case
I live in Japan and I visit a remote countryside town like this basically every year. Whenever I think of this case, I think of the hawks and birds out in the forests. You can sometimes see from 2 to 10 or so just flying around near the mountains in remote towns they fly pretty silently. I haven't really ever seen this discussed but it is not heard of for a raptor like that to grab a child and fly off. I think, this is one of the only things that makes sense for a forty second disappearance.
This case reminds me of the Takenoko Girl disappearance that happened in Tokyo, I think the girl was even a similar age. She and her mother were picking bamboo shoots in the woods in Tokyo and she ran ahead of her mother, who only lost sight of her for a few seconds. Once her mother caught back up with her less than a minute later, it was as if she’d vanished. It’s an interesting story, and oddly similar to this one.
You mean the disappearance of Yuki Onishi. That case happened in Kagawa prefecture, not Tokyo.
I get excited when I see your videos, it's nice knowing a videos gonna be good
Thank you for covering true crime stories from Asia. I'm getting a little tired of American true crime so I need variety.
As always, thank you ❤️
I'm guessing the actual length of time everyone had their eyes off the kid was quite a bit longer than 20 seconds. A toddler isn't getting far in 20 seconds, if it'd been only that long his dad could probably have just walked around the outside of the house and found him. No, I'm thinking more like a minute, maybe more. Nobody likes to admit being careless and allowing their kids to wander off, especially if something actually happens to them as a result. A minute is long enough for the boy to wander off and make a turn somewhere or fall down the side of a hill never to be seen again.
He could of course have been snatched too. Especially if I'm right and he was hanging around outside the house for significantly longer than 20 seconds. I mean, he could have got snatched in 20 seconds as well, all a kidnapper would need to do is drive up and grab the kid before driving off. But 20 seconds isn't all that much time for a passing kidnapper to go "OH LOOK, AN UNACCOMPANIED CHILD FOR ME TO KIDNAP!" and lean out their window to yoink them into the car. A kidnapper could also have been following them on foot as well, but then they'd have been close enough to potentially get spotted and after the kidnapping they'd have to get far enough away on foot in a short window of time not to be seen or for the kid's dad to hear him making a commotion. So yeah, probably longer than 20 seconds however you look at it.
Sounds to me like a stalker could've been involved but that's just my thinking.
Good evening! This channel is one of the reasons why im hooked on true crime!
Omg.
I knew you were my people. 😊
GINGER SNAPS?!? Hardly anyone I’ve asked has ever even heard of that movie, much less SEEN it. 👏🏽
Fuck yeah, a new ReignBot video!
Time to grab some bloody popcorn 🍿
As far as the phone call, could it be that the person was indeed living in Ibaraki but had originally come from Tokushima (which would explain the accent) and had family still living in the area, who then told her about Shinya’s disappearance before it had widespread news coverage? It wouldn’t explain much of anything else and overall I’m sure the person was just a scammer or really cruel prankster, but the particular combination of factors mentioned doesn’t seem so unlikely to me.
0:40 Wait.. More people know about Grave Encounters and how it's amazing?.. Mein Gott.
Yay new reignbot my favourite voice on TH-cam
no way ginger snaps is amazing im glad you like it as well
babe wake up reignbot just posted
thank u for the great content as always, ReignBot 💗
Video begins at 1:09
Did the authorities check the surrounding storm drains n stuff in the area for a body?? His remains could still be there if they never checked. At least they could get some closure
That Grave Encounters mention made me smile. Love that movie!!!
New reignbot hell yeah
I loved the granny voice, Reign.
Great content!
Thank you for pronouncing the names and places correctly.
Only just started watching but my fist thought was someone must have grabbed him and pulled him into a house... I'll update after I've watched it all
"Jimmy, is that you?" That impersonation was awesome and made my day
Oh how I love when u upload.
Yours truly is a great writer 👍🏻
It's now bee almost 34 Years since Shinya's disappearance.. Man. If he's out there, I wish safety for him. And, I wish closure for his family. Lord knows how distraught his poor parents were/are.
In my opinion…this case has too many questions to determine what really happened.
My best guess is the kid simply ran off, got lost, and fell somewhere. And that’s the best case scenario - could’ve been attacked by some kind of animal, could’ve been kidnapped and killed.
But the area was too large, and they took too long while using too little resources. By the time they started searching, he was most likely far gone and dead somewhere. And if not, he was simply trapped in a place where no one was able to get to.
Plus, small communities are actually the places where things like this happen all the time. People go missing, are kidnapped, and/or are killed. All without the townsfolk getting involved, it’s simply people trying to live and survive so they’re gonna be far more secluded than places like cities. Even if smaller places are more ‘close’, it’s most likely that everyone in the area will be in on it anyways so they won’t speak up on it.
What’s sad is all the pointless/false leads and fakers, the family deserved far better than that.
someone else suggested he had a run in with a wild boar or something which to me would make a ton of sense. not to be too grisly, but pigs can and will leave very little evidence of an adult human body if they get a hold of one, let alone a four year old. if shinya accidentally disturbed a wild pig, especially a mother with piglets to protect, i dont think there'd be much if anything left of him.
@@sillyd0g yea, that could also be possible.
Yoo I'd didn't think I'd hear someone else talk about grave encounters I love that movie!