Nine bodies found cut up in coolers as Japan reels over serial killer

Japanese police found nine dismembered bodies hidden in cool boxes in an apartment south-west of Tokyo in an apparent serial killing case that is transfixing and horrifying the nation.

Police were working yesterday to identify the victims after the man who lived there, Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, confessed to cutting them up and hiding them in cold storage cases.

Some of the cases were covered with cat litter, a police spokesman said.

The bodies, in varying stages of decomposition, were found while police were investigating the disappearance of a 23-yearold woman. The woman’s brother had reported her missing last week.

The gruesome case captured attention in a country known for public safety, topping news with reports Clockwise from main: The apartment building where the nine bodies were found; police and specialist officers search the property; media flock to the home in Tokyo that showed the building where the suspect lived in a small studio apartment.

The building was cordoned off by yellow police tape, with its balcony draped with blue plastic sheets to block the view as investigators went in and out.

The missing woman is thought to be one of eight women and one man who were dismembered and hidden in the apartment from late August to late last month.

A toolbox and saw found in Mr Shiraishi’s apartment may have been used to dismember the bodies, the police official said.

Police were still investigating the suspect’s motives. The spokesman refused to give further details.

It was unclear who the other eight victims might be, or why it was that neighbours who said they had noticed foul smells coming from the apartment had not raised any alarm with authorities.

Local media reported that police first found the severed heads of two victims in cool boxes in the apartment’s entryway, then found the bodies of the other seven while searching the apartment.

Mr Shiraishi told police that he dismembered the bodies in his bathroom, which according to online descriptions of the apartment building where he lived was a plastic-sealed “unit bath”.

He put out some of the body parts as rubbish, Kyodo News agency reported.

Reports said the missing woman got in contact with Mr Shiraishiviatwitter,seekinga partner for a suicide pact and saying she was afraid to die alone.

The two were recorded by security cameras walking together outside of train stations near her apartment and the suspect’s apartment, the reports said.

Local media ran junior high school photos of the suspect smiling with braces on his teeth. There was little other information about his education or where he comes from.