Who Is Takahiro Shiraishi And Why Is He Known As The ‘Twitter Killer'

News18

8 hours ago

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Takahiro Shiraishi had been convicted of murdering and dismembering nine people after luring them through social media.
Japan has carried out its first execution in three years by hanging Takahiro Shiraishi, a man infamously known as the 'Twitter Killer.' Shiraishi, 34, had been convicted of murdering and dismembering nine people in 2017 after luring them through social media.
The execution marked Japan's first use of the death penalty since 2022. According to news agency AFP, the killings mainly targeted young women, many of whom had posted suicidal thoughts online. Shiraishi pleaded guilty to all charges and had been on death row since December 2020.
Who Was Takahiro Shiraishi?
Shiraishi lived in Zama, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, just outside Tokyo. He was arrested in October 2017 after the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman caught police attention. The woman had posted suicidal thoughts on X (formerly Twitter). Her brother accessed her account and helped guide police to Shiraishi's apartment.
Once police arrived at his home, they found dismembered body parts belonging to nine people. These remains were stored in coolers and toolboxes with cat litter used in an attempt to cover the smell.
Why Was He Called The 'Twitter Killer'?
Shiraishi was dubbed the 'Twitter Killer' because he used the platform to connect with vulnerable individuals who usually expressed suicidal thoughts. Using the handle 'hangman," he approached these individuals with promises to assist them in ending their lives. But instead of offering help, he murdered them upon their arrival at his apartment.
According to BBC, his Twitter profile contained the words: 'I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime."
He targeted eight women including three teenage girls and one man. As reported by Associated Press, Shiraishi raped the women before killing them and murdered the lone male victim, who was the boyfriend of one of the women, to silence him.
His lawyers argued that Shiraishi should receive a prison sentence rather than be executed because the victims expressed suicidal thoughts and so had consented to die. But the court rejected this defense, calling his actions 'cunning and cruel," reports said at the time.
The judge said that 'the dignity of the victims was trampled upon" and noted that Shiraishi had targeted people who were 'mentally fragile."
Legal Outcome
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki confirmed that Shiraishi's crimes 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.
In December 2020, Shiraishi was found guilty of the charges and was sentenced to death. Although his lawyer initially filed an appeal to the Tokyo High Court, the appeal was later withdrawn. As a result, the sentence became final, according to NHK.
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