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.