World renowned researcher killed
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from May 1996.
Brought to you by
Two people called police after finding the man slumped over in a BMW. car early Wednesday outside the house, which is across the street from a country club in La Jolla, 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of San Diego.
The girl was found dead in a driveway near the car.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner's office withheld the names of the victims pending positive identification. Friends were unable to positively identify them and the nearest relatives were in Japan, a spokesman said.
But The San Diego Union-Tribune identified the man as Tsunao Saitoh, 47, an Alzheimer's disease researcher at the University of California, San Diego, and his daughter, Louille Saitoh, 13. The killings topped Japanese national TV news Thursday and the man's father, Shigezo, spoke at a nationally televised news conference.
"Everything I knew about the neighbourhood made me think it was a peaceful place," he said. "I can't imagine why they would be shot like that."
Police would not discuss a motive, although it appeared the assailant was waiting for the victims. The shooting probably happened late Tuesday night, police said. At UCSD, Saitoh was known for his Alzheimer's disease research in which he was trying to learn how neurons in patients' brains are destroyed. Saitoh had worked at the center for 10 years and had recently made some major breakthroughs in finding potential causes of Alzheimer's disease, said Phyllis Lessin, assistant chief of the center.
"I can't even fathom why anyone would do this," said Lessin. "We're all traumatised. This is the most awful thing in the world.
"He was a brilliant, dedicated researcher," she said. "He was at the pinnacle of his career. He's one of the major (Alzheimer's) researchers in the world."
