The stabbed bodies of antinuclear activist Tomoyasu Kawai and his wife, Yumiko, were found Tuesday in their burned house in Tokyo along with another body believed to be of their son, police and firefighters said.
Two bodies found in a bedroom were identified as the 70-year-old activist and his 65-year-old wife. They believe a body found in another room was their 33-year-old son.
Kawai and his wife were both found with stab wounds in their backs and chests as well as head injuries that indicate they had been struck with a blunt object, the police said. Both are believed to have died from blood loss.
Police suspect the son attacked the couple while they slept and then started the fire. They found a knife and a wooden baseball bat near the third body, which was severely disfigured by the fire. They also found traces of oil on the floor in that room and there were no signs that anyone had broken into the house, sources said.
Kawai, an oceanographer at the Fisheries Agency's fisheries research institute, worked for the elimination of nuclear weapons. He had been a member of the organizing committee of the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, or Gensuikyo, since 1985.