The Cold-Blooded Spree Of The Twitter Killer: Takahiro Shiraishi

modesto hello everyone thank you all very much once again for joining me as we dive into yet another horrible case that involved the internet as we continue our exploration into the question of whether or not the worst monsters are no longer hiding in the dark but out here in the light of the technology in front of our faces but before we begin today's case though i want to give a very very big thank you and a shout out to all of you the members of the buzzfeed unsolved network community not only is today's case one that was suggested by numerous members of the audience who message me on twitter and instagram but furthermore this episode will be the first one that features animations throughout and those animations are being made by a member of our audience a part of our discord server one of a part of our community right here her name is fia she's a very talented artist and if you want to be a part of our growing bun community on discord the link to the server is down in the description below so swing on by i'm there every single day so we can hang out you can chat with other members of the bun audience about bun content potential cases for us to cover here on the unsolved network true crime supernatural and all kinds of other fun stuff so what's going on bye but until then let's begin with this not so fun case now in every one of these videos i ask you all to send me messages on instagram or twitter with cases you'd like me to cover and this was probably the most requested one by numerous members of the bun audience that case being the multiple murders of takahiro shiraishi otherwise known as the twitter killer for today's case we travel to the land of the rising sun japan a country rich with culture and history and a nation that stands today as a modern technological leader the technological landscape of japan was also the hunting ground of takahiro shiraishi a modern day serial killer who became notoriously known as the twitter killer due to japanese privacy laws the names of shiraishi's victims are withheld but hopefully by chartering the bloody course that she embarked upon we can glean further insight into the intermingling of murder and technology especially in a foreign land now the thing that fascinates me about this case is the fact that normally we assume myself included that serial killers are somewhat a thing of the past we associate them with people like bundy dahmer from decades ago thinking that technology has improved to the point where you know these people can be more easily caught before they get out of hand which is true to an extent but a case like this one is a very stark reminder that even with all the technological improvements in the world even in a place as technologically advanced like japan there are people who will continue to find ways to commit their dark and evil deeds takehiro shiraishi like several infamous killers before him was known to his neighbors as a cheerful kind and polite man with those same neighbors shocked when they heard of the crimes he had committed someone who knew shidaishi when they were younger even described him as a quiet child who was able to socialize with neighbors pretty much at this point it's like a running gag that all these monsters come across as seemingly friendly and kind people to their neighbors and the people who knew them it's like they all took the same sort of like course together but even as a younger man there was unique behavior that shiraishi engaged in that could have served as a warning sign for what was to come with one of shiraishi's friends recalling that they would play a game where they would choke each other to the point of nearly passing out for fun after shiraishi graduated high school luring women with insidious intent was a skill he started to hone long before his murderous spree as he began working for a prostitution ring in the kabukicho district of tokyo as a sex industry scout his job was to lure young women to the clubs in the district he would use twitter for his recruiting purposes but was eventually arrested in february 2017 by police for his work in the sex trade and was given a suspended sentence now i personally don't use my twitter that much however it's interesting to think about how a platform like twitter is being used by prostitution rings as a scouting network after finding himself unemployed in 2017 shiraishi began to apply his experience hunting women on twitter for far far darker purposes shiraishi found his victims by targeting people who were already suicidal and luring them over twitter hence the nickname that would later be bestowed upon him shiraishi had five twitter accounts one of his handles was at hanging pro it was later revealed during his trial that he would post statements such as it is not hard to hang oneself and if you cannot help yourself i can help you shiraishi had built a substantial following on his accounts one of them captioned i want to die and another a professional at hanging shiraishi would later say during his trial that it was easier for me to convince people with worries and other issues and manipulate them to my way of thinking shiraishi promised the suicidal individuals that he would be able to kill them and sometimes promised that he would kill himself with them with one victim shiraishi pretended to be a spiritual leader who could help those seeking to end their life in another case he created a suicide pact his victims ranged from ages 15 to 26 and they were all female with the exception of one male a friend of one of the female victims who was trying to track her down shiraishi would meet his victims at a train station near their house and then escort them to his apartment shiraishi would then give the woman alcohol sleeping pills tranquilizers and then raped them after killing his victims he would chop the flesh off of the bone and throw their flesh out with the trash he would then sprinkle cat litter over the flesh to further prevent discovery ashiraishi later told investigators there is no doubt that i sliced up the bodies in my bathroom with the intention of destroying evidence i disposed of their flesh and internal organs like garbage but kept their bones out of fear that i would be caught i just don't understand why he would keep the bones out of fear of being caught because i get i would assume that if you were afraid of being caught you would you would toss the bones out but i don't know maybe one of you have some insights to share with me shiraishi's nine person killing spree lasted from august to october 2017 while investigating the disappearance of a 23 year old woman the police were led to shiraishi via twitter the victim had previously posted on the social media platform that she had wanted to take her own life tweeting i'm looking for someone to die with me the victim's brother logged into her account and found suspicious interactions with another user one of the victim's followers told the brother that she recognized the handle the brother then asked her to contact shiraishi at the handle while he reported the user to the police the young woman who reached out to shiraishi convinced him to meet her at a train station where the police were hiding and they followed him back to his place when shiraishi arrived home the police knocked on his door and quickly found a white bag that belonged to the missing woman investigators then asked hiraishi about the whereabouts of the woman to which he replied inside the cooler and pointed at a cooler well i guess when the jig was up he knew it they certainly uh didn't bother lying shiraishi told investigators that he had killed his victim soon after moving into his apartment on august 22nd 2017. he spent three days taking her body apart he then killed her boyfriend who had come searching for her among a collection of arm and leg bones the police also found nine heads safely stored in toolboxes and coolers 240 bones in total were found stored away in shiraishi's apartment nine heads 240 bones before he was indicted in 2018 shiraishi underwent five months of psychiatric tests where it was eventually found that shiraishi was mentally stable prosecutors wanted shiraishi to be sentenced with a death penalty while his defendants proposed that he be charged with murder with consent instead claiming that it was a more appropriate sentence because his victims gave permission to be killed shiraishi then gave his own account during the trial and said that he did not kill his victims with their consent shiraishi stated that he had even killed one of his victims while she was sleeping and another after she had spoken about wanting to go out to eat and stop at a game parlor shiraishi also admitted that he had no interest in suicide himself but used it as an angle to find the people he would kill in interviews during the trial she'd actually complained that it was taking too long and that he would be happy to accept the death penalty i mean what a moment in court that must have been you've got this defense attorney trying to to get shivaishi off and he's like nah yeah the defense attorney's talking out of his ass i did it judge naokuni yano would state at his sentencing that all the murders were well planned and the moda's operandi makes it one of the most malicious murderers ever in the history of crime it caused massive shock and anxiety to a society where the use of social media is commonplace at the trial shiraishi said to the victims families i am sorry for having killed some of the victims with whom i spent a lot of time and would like to apologize to these families but for the others i don't really feel a sense of regret in any case i am sorry only because i failed when i got caught if i wasn't arrested i will not be regretting anything on december 15 2020 at the age of 30 shiraishi was given the death penalty where in japan it is carried out by hanging it's worth noting that in japan those sentenced to death do not know when they will be hanged until the day of execution typically a death row inmate waits years for their day to come one of the victim's fathers would go on to say personally i wanted him to get a life sentence over which he has no choice but to atone for his wrongdoings rather than give him the death penalty he wanted another father said he will never forgive shiraishi even if he dies even now when i see a woman of my daughter's age i mistake her for my daughter this pain will never go away give her back to me let me know what you all think but is the father kind of right in saying that because she actually got what he wanted in the death penalty perhaps the better punishment would have been for him to spend the rest of his life in prison just food for thought i guess since the trial shiraishi has expressed that now i want to meet an ordinary girl i want to get married i want to find a marriage partner while i am in jail the case has sparked a discussion in japan as to how suicide should be handled largely considering how to handle those contemplating taking their own life and websites used to discuss the topic japan has previously dealt with extremely high suicide rates ranking among one of the highest suicide rates in the world in 2016 their death by suicide rate was 18.5 per 100 000 people the reasons for japan's high suicide rate is nuanced but the top contributing factors are typically stigma around mental health issues long work hours social isolation and pressure in academia and while improved measures over the decade building up to 2019 led to a decline in the numbers covert 19 has seemingly reversed the progress notably as of october 2020 more people died in japan from suicide than covet 19 in 2020 with the suicide number rising to 2153 that month while 2020 covet 19 deaths totaled at 2087. now as i mentioned just there the topic of suicide and mental health in japan is a very nuanced one with a lot of cultural context that obviously i can provide and it's worth its own time uh and separate video but it is actually interesting just a very quick parallel that comes to mind is the fact that prior to covering the twitter killer a case or a serial killer i contemplated doing a video about it was a man named hiroshimayu apologies if i'm mispronouncing his name they might be hiroshima he was a japanese serial killer from the mid 2000s who also found his victims via online suicide websites forums clubs and his modus operandi was somewhat similar to takahiro shiraishi it just makes me wonder and i'd love to hear your thoughts especially from anyone who is japanese of maybe there are deeper parallels between why killers like hiroshima or takehiro shiraishi were able to capitalize on what seems to be a larger issue of mental health and suicide in japan in response to this case twitter has updated its regulations to stand staunchly against any promotion of suicidal ideation twitter ceo jack dorsey spoke on the case saying it was extremely sad and that twitter would make sure that it is being used in positive and healthy ways the japanese government has also expanded its mental health care to expanding hotlines and creating more support channels online i don't think it's any surprise really that i got so many messages on instagram and twitter from people suggesting this case considering the recency of it all i mean shiraishi was just sentenced to death in december of last year just a few months ago and so i think it goes back to my earlier point where at least for me it is fascinating to see a modern serial killer in action of course by fascinating i don't mean that in a good way but it's interesting to see how despite technological improvements you know people continue to find a way and it's a very scary thought that ties directly into our question of whether or not the worst monsters are no longer hiding the dark and now living in the technology beaming in front of our faces i guess the larger question is also like when we look into these individuals childhoods right we we like sheedaishi's friend mentioned as how they were kids they enjoyed choking each other out like if technology wasn't in the question would he still have found ways to to commit these murders that didn't involve technology you know is it one of those things that it's like a nature versus nurture sort of conversation i don't know i would love to hear your thoughts and as always if you have a case you'd like me to cover in a future video much like i covered the one today after many of you suggested it shoot me a message and who knows maybe the next time i'm detailing a case it will be one that you sent in until then though take care and stay safe online [Music] you

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 1,044,092

Keywords: SffZ, aria inthavong, aria investigates, asian serial killer, bun, buzzfeed, buzzfeed aria, buzzfeed unsolved, buzzfeed unsolved aria, buzzfeed unsolved network, dark web, internet crimes, japan, japanese, murder, murderer, online predator, online stalker, predator, serial killer, serial murderer, stalker, takahiro shiraishi, tech crimes, tokyo, true crime, tweet, tweets, twitter, twitter killer, unsolved aria

Id: fSSJedxi76s

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021