Killing spree lasted two months

Japanese murder suspect lured victims to gory death through Twitter

TOKYO: A Japanese man arrested after police found nine dismembered corpses rotting in his house has confessed to killing all his young victims over a two-month spree after contacting them via Twitter, media reports said.

Takahiro Shiraishi (pic), 27, has also confessed that he “assaulted” all of his eight female victims, the Fuji TV network said yesterday, using a Japanese media euphemism for sexual attacks.

Prosecutors are now quizzing Shiraishi, who has reportedly admitted to hacking the flesh off the bodies and throwing it out with the trash, then sprinkling cat litter over the remains in an effort to cover up the evidence.

In all, some 240 pieces of bones belonging to nine people were found inside coolers and toolboxes at his apartment, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

The grisly case has stunned Japan, which enjoys a low crime rate, and pictures of the nondescript apartment building in a quiet residential area were splashed across the country’s front pages.

“Killing room,” splashed the Nikkan

Sports tabloid. “One murder a week,” wrote the Sports Nippon.

Details also began to emerge as to how investigators tracked down the suspect and trapped him using the same medium he himself used to lure his victims.

Police were led to Shiraishi while investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman, who had reportedly tweeted that she wanted to take her own life.

Her brother managed to hack into her Twitter account, noticed a suspicious handle and then tweeted about his sister’s disappearance, major media said.

One female follower told him that she recognised the handle.

The brother asked her to contact the person while he reported the case to police, the Yomiuri daily said.

The woman convinced Shiraishi to come to a train station, where investigators were waiting and followed him to his house.

Immediately after he returned to his apartment, police knocked on the door and found a white bag belonging to the missing sister, the Yomiuri reported. “When investigators asked the whereabouts of the sister, Shiraishi said ‘Inside the cooler’, pointing at it,” the Yomiuri added.

Shiraishi reportedly told police that four of his victims were teenagers, four others were aged around 20 and the other was in his or her late 20s. There were eight female victims and one male.

He killed most of them “on the day he met” them.

He moved to the flat on Aug 22 and contacted victims by tweeting that he would help them with their suicide plans, the Mainichi Shimbun daily reported.

Shiraishi said he kept the body parts as he was afraid he might get caught if he discarded them.

He has been charged with improper disposal of one body, but police are searching for evidence that he killed all nine.