KANAGAWA (TR) – After prosecutors deemed him to be criminally liable, a 27-year-old man on Monday was prosecuted on suspicion of murder and rape in connection with nine corpses found in his residence in Zama City last year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Sept. 10).
On Monday, the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office prosecuted Takahiro Shiraishi on suspicion of raping, murdering and robbing eight women and destroying and abandoning their corpses between August and October of last year. He has also been accused of murdering and robbing one man and destroying and abandoning his corpse.
On October 30, 2017, police investigating the disappearance of Aiko Tamura, a 23-year-old woman from Tokyo’s Hachioji City, entered the residence and found body parts belonging to the eight women and one man inside seven ice coolers.
Following questioning, police first arrested Shiraishi on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. Upon his apprehension, he told police he carved up the bodies after killing the persons.
During the course of the investigation, police found a number of items in the residence that are believed to have been used in the killings, including a saw and 10 nylon ropes.
Shiraishi has since admitted to robbing and sexually assaulting the female victims, according to investigative sources. “My purpose was money, and I wanted to enjoy myself,” Shiraishi was quoted.
According to previous reports, Shiraishi lured victims to his residence via Twitter, telling persons who expressed an interest in taking their lives that he had special knowledge of death by hanging.
Police used the results of DNA analyses to conclude that three of the victims are female high school students. Five other victims are women from Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures. The only male victim is also from Kanagawa.
The prosecution of Shiraishi followed a five-month psychiatric examination whose results deemed him criminally liable in the case, investigative sources said.
