 The four were sentenced to death for the murder of four people between 18-20 September 2004.Mami Kitamura had borrowed money from a 58-year-old woman, Sayoko Takami.On 18 September 2004, Mami, her husband and two sons strangled Sayoko and shot her 18-year-old son Tatsuyuki and his 17-year-old friend Junichi Hara.