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Agence France-Presse

A Japanese man arrested after police found nine dismembered corpses rotting in his house has confessed to killing all his victims over a two-month spree after contacting them via Twitter, media reports said Wednesday.
Authorities were quizzing 27-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi, who has reportedly confessed 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.
The grisly case has stunned Japan, which enjoys an extremely low crime rate, and pictures of the nondescript house 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.
Shiraishi has told police he contacted his prey via Twitter and killed them “on the day he met” them, according to several media citing police sources.

One of the victims was a man concerned about the disappearance of his girlfriend, who the suspect had killed earlier.
Shiraishi was quoted by the sources as saying he killed the man’s girlfriend in late August. He later killed the man, who had asked him about the girlfriend’s whereabouts, fearing he might report her disappearance to police.
He moved to the flat in Zama, a southwestern suburban of Tokyo, on August 22 and contacted victims by tweeting that he would help their suicide plans, the Mainichi Shimbun daily reported.
Police were led to Shiraishi and his secret stash of bodies while investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman.

This woman had earlier tweeted “I’m looking for someone to die with me”, local reports said. Authorities then discovered a link between her and Shiraishi.
Shiraishi told police the young female victims, believed to be eight in total, were aged around 20 or teenagers, the sources said.
He was also quoted by the sources as saying, “At first, it took me three days to dismember a body but from the second person I was able to do it within a day.”
Neighbours later said they had noticed a foul smell coming from the flat.
The 27-year-old suspected killer has now been turned over to prosecutors, a policeman said.
For now, he has been charged with improper disposal of one body but police are searching for evidence he killed all nine.
While Japan prides itself on its low crime rate, it is no stranger to high-profile violent crimes.
Earlier in October, a 32-year-old father was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his daughter to death. He also admitted torching the house in which his wife and four other children were found dead.
In Japan’s bloodiest crime for decades, Satoshi Uematsu faces charges of killing 19 people and attempting to kill or injure 24 others at a disability centre near Tokyo in July 2016.
In 1997 a 14-year-old schoolboy decapitated an 11-year-old acquaintance and placed the head at the gates of his school.
Additional reporting by Kyodo


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Japan

Dismembered in a day: Japanese man accused of killing nine, perfected grisly hacking technique by second victim

Takahiro Shiraishi has told police he contacted his prey via Twitter and killed them ‘on the day he met’ them, according to several media citing police sources

A local resident looks at an apartment (partialy covered with a blue sheet) where Japanese police found nine bodies, including two with their heads severed and dumped in a cool box in Zama, Kanagawa prefecture, on October 31, 2017. The bodies were of eight women and one man, several media reported. / AFP PHOTO / Toru YAMANAKA

A police officer carries out a plastic bag from an apartment building where media reported nine bodies were found in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in this photo taken by Kyodo on October 31, 2017. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN.

Suspect Takahiro Shiraishi covers his face with his hands as he is transported to the prosecutor's office from a police station in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

Halloween horror: man arrested after police find nine dismembered bodies in Tokyo flat, packed in cooler boxes

The apparent victims include a missing 23-year-old woman who exchanged messages about a suicide pact with suspect Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, officers suspect

Police officers inspect an apartment complex in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Oct. 31, 2017, where nine dismembered bodies were found in an apartment earlier in the day. The apartment is the home of 27-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi, who was arrested the same day on suspicion of disposing of bodies following a police investigation into the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman in Tokyo. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

This aerial photo shows the apartment, center, where police found dismembered bodies in coolers in Zama city, southwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. A police spokesman said Tuesday the 27-year-old suspect confessed to cutting up the bodies and hiding them in cold-storage cases, covered with cat litter. (Kyodo News via AP)

A flat complex in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture where police found nine bodies in one of its units. Photo: Kyodo

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Takahiro Shiraishi has told police he contacted his prey via Twitter and killed them ‘on the day he met’ them, according to several media citing police sources


Crime

Dismembered in a day: Japanese man accused of killing nine, perfected grisly hacking technique by second victim

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Takahiro Shiraishi has told police he contacted his prey via Twitter and killed them ‘on the day he met’ them, according to several media citing police sources

Takahiro Shiraishi has told police he contacted his prey via Twitter and killed them ‘on the day he met’ them, according to several media citing police sources