This Cannibal Took A Woman’s Life And Is Still Walking Free Today
Issei Sagawa, better known as the “Kobe Cannibal,” admitted to daydreaming for decades about feasting on human flesh. But, even though he eventually succumbed to the gruesome urge in 1981, Issei is walking free today.
Issei’s Early Life
He was born in Japan on April 26, 1949, and ever since Issei can remember, he has experienced relentless cannibalistic urges.
It all began when Issei’s uncle put on a monster costume and pretended to lower him and his brother into a cauldron as a joke. But, while entirely make-believe for his uncle, Issei cherished the memory fondly.
Next, he became obsessed with finding fairy tales that involved characters getting eaten. And his favorite quickly became Hansel and Gretel.
Finally, Issei’s urges began to impede his day-to-day thoughts while in just the first grade. In fact, he remembers looking at a classmate’s thighs while at school and thinking they looked delicious.
Issei has since been open about where he thinks these cannibalistic urges stemmed from. He has blamed the portrayal of Western women in popular media and equated his desires to other romantic dreams.
“For example, if a normal man fancied a girl, he would naturally feel a desire to see her as often as possible, to be close to her, to smell her and kiss her, right?” Issei began.
“To me, eating is just an extension of that. Frankly, I cannot fathom why everyone doesn’t feel this urge to eat, to consume, other people.”
koppermeen – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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However, he claims that he never fantasized about killing others. Instead, Issei’s urges involved gnawing on flesh.
He also reportedly tried to seek help from a therapist when he was fifteen years old. But, Issei claimed that the treatment was not helpful. So, cannibalistic thoughts continued to swirl through his mind until he finally acted on them at thirty-two years old.
The Urges Took Over
In 1981, Issei moved from Japan to Paris in order to study comparative literature at a public university known as Sorbonne. But, once there, his cannibalistic thoughts intensified.
“Almost every night, I would bring a (woman) home and then try to shoot them from behind. It became less about wanting to eat them, but more an obsession with the idea that I simply had to carry out this ‘ritual’ of killing a girl no matter what,” Issei wrote in his 1983 book In The Fog.
Then, he found his target. Issei met a Dutch student named Renée Hartevelt, who was also attending Sorbonne with him.
Issei worked to forge a casual friendship with Renée before inviting her over for dinner from time to time. And eventually, once he gained her trust, he set out to kill her.
However, the first time that Issei went to shoot Renée in the back, his gun misfired. But, this did nothing to deter him. Instead, Issei claimed the failure made him more hysterical and determined to follow through with the murder.
So, the next evening, Issei tried again and was, tragically, successful. Renée immediately died, and he claimed to only feel guilty for a second before getting a rush of adrenaline.
“I thought about calling an ambulance, but then I thought, ‘Hang on, don’t be stupid. You’ve been dreaming about this for thirty-two years, and now it’s actually happening,” Issei recalled.
Then, he proceeded to assault Renée’s corpse before slicing her open. He reportedly began by cutting into her buttock and working on getting past the fast just beneath the skin.
“The moment I saw the meat, I tore a chunk off with my fingers and threw it into my mouth. It was truly a historical moment for me,” Issei said.
And apparently, his sole regret is that he did not eat Renée alive. Issei maintains that he had no intention of killing her.
Issei’s Confession
He did not initially plan on confessing to the heinous act. Instead, two days after killing Renée, he set out to dispose of the rest of her remains.
Issei had already eaten and frozen the majority of her pelvic region. So, he placed her head, legs, and torso into two suitcases.
Then, Issei hailed a cab to the Bois de Boulogne park– which is home to a lake. He planned to dump the suitcases in the water but never made it there.
Instead, numerous people spotted the suitcases dripping blood. So, they immediately contacted the French police, and Issei was brought in for questioning. However, his admission of guilt came immediately afterward.
“I killed her to eat her flesh,” Issei simply said.
This landed him in a French prison for two years while he awaited trial. Nonetheless, once he took the stand, judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere declared Issei legally insane.
In turn, he was determined unfit to stand trial, and the charges against him were dropped.
Despite that, Issei was deported back to Japan and was supposed to be held in a mental hospital indefinitely. That never happened, though.
Apparently, since the French court had dropped the charges, all court documents had been sealed and were unable to be released to authorities in Japan. In turn, the Japanese court had no case against him– leaving Issei to walk as a free man.
Today, Issei Roams Tokyo
Nowadays, he lives in Tokyo and frequents the busy streets to gawk at women who pass by. Issei said that his urges heighten in the summer months when women are wearing fewer clothes amidst the heat.
He also revealed how he wants to eat one more person before he dies and has even planned out his method for doing so.
“I think either sukiyaki or shabu shabu is the best way to go in order to really savor the natural flavor of the meat,” Issei said.
And despite his infamous reputation, the now seventy-three-year-old has gone on to capitalize on his cannibalistic crime.
He has since penned over twenty books, contributed restaurant reviews for a Japanese magazine, and has even toured on a lecture circuit to discuss his lifelong urges.
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