Man Dubbed the 'Twitter Killer' Sentenced to Death for Murdering People Who Expressed Suicidal Thoughts Online

A Japanese man who had killed people after they expressed their suicidal wishes online was sentenced to death this week, CBS News reported. Takahiro Shiraishi, who is known as the “Twitter Killer,” previously pleaded guilty to the murders of nine people, some of whom he raped and dismembered.

Shiraishi approached his victims, who had posted about suicide online, through Twitter and offered to assist them, according to reports. He invited victims over to his house where he then murdered them. Eight women and one man were killed. The man killed was a boyfriend of one of his victims and he killed him to silence him, authorities said.

In 2017, the bodies of all the victims were found in cold-storage cases inside of his apartment. Shiraishi’s defense lawyers argued that the victims wanted to die, but Shiraishi admitted to authorities that he killed the victims without their consent, CBS News reported.

Judge Naokuni Yano said that Shiraishi was fully responsible for their deaths, according to multiple reports. He also called the crime “extremely heinous,” NHK public television reported.

Japan is known for having the world’s highest suicide rate. While the suicide rate was declining pre-pandemic, it has now climbed again to the country’s previous numbers.

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