Japan on Friday executed a man dubbed the “Twitter killer” who murdered and dismembered nine people he met online, in the nation’s first enactment of the death penalty since 2022.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women, after contacting them on the social media platform now called X.
He had targeted users who posted about taking their own life, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them.
According to the BBC, his Twitter profile contained the words: “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime.”
He killed the three teenage girls and five women after raping them. He also killed the boyfriend of one of the women to silence him, The Associated Press reported.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Shiraishi’s crimes, carried out in 2017, included “robbery, rape, murder … destruction of a corpse and abandonment of a corpse.”
“Nine victims were beaten and strangled, killed, robbed, and then mutilated with parts of their bodies concealed in boxes, and parts discarded in a garbage dump,” Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo.
Nine dismembered bodies were found in coolers and tool boxes when officers visited his flat, which was dubbed by media outlets as a “house of horrors,” the BBC reported.
Shiraishi acted to satisfy “his own sexual and financial desires” and the murders “caused great shock and anxiety to society,” Suzuki said.
The grisly murders were discovered in autumn 2017 by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to kill herself.
Her brother gained access to her Twitter account and eventually led police to Shiraishi’s residence, where investigators found dismembered body parts. Agency reports
Takahiro Shiraishi...