Shiraishi’s crimes shocked even a country known for its low crime rate. Between August and October 2017, he preyed on the vulnerable, targeting mostly young women who had expressed suicidal thoughts online. His X (formerly Twitter) bio read, “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM me anytime.” To those reaching out for help, he offered understanding and a way out. He claimed he would assist them in dying and, in some cases, said he would die alongside them.
The serial killer had moved to the quiet apartment in Zama, a city in central Kanagawa Prefecture, in August 2017. Before that, he had worked as a scout in Kabukicho, Tokyo’s biggest red-light district, luring women into the sex industry.Also Read: Thailand bans cannabis sales without prescription, tightens rules on dispensaries
Inside his Zama apartment, Shiraishi carried out his killings with a disturbing calm. He strangled his victims—eight women and one man, all between the ages of 15 and 26—and then dismembered their bodies. He stored the remains in three coolers and five large storage boxes, wrapping heads in towels and sealing arms and legs in plastic containers. Some parts he discarded in the trash, which neighbours remembered for the foul, unmistakable stench of rotting flesh.
The case came to light when the brother of a missing 23-year-old woman, who had tweeted about wanting to end her life, began investigating her disappearance himself. With help from a woman identified only as Yumi, he contacted Shiraishi and arranged a fake meeting. The police were brought in. When they knocked on the door of his apartment in October 2017 and asked about the missing woman, Shiraishi gestured toward the freezer. What began as a search for one lost woman ended with the discovery of nine dismembered bodies.
Shiraishi confessed almost immediately. He had found all his victims on the social media platform. His motive, he admitted, was sex. He used the victims’ fragile emotional state to gain their trust, manipulate them, and assault them. Once he had fulfilled his fantasies, he killed them.
At trial, Shiraishi’s defence team argued he had committed “murder with consent,” claiming the victims had wanted to die. But in a bizarre twist, Shiraishi himself dismissed the argument. He admitted that he killed them for his own gratification.
In December 2020, he was sentenced to death, a verdict that drew more than 400 people outside the Tokyo District Court, eager to witness the outcome of one of Japan’s most horrific crimes.
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