Issei Sagawa, a Japanese man who murdered and partially ate 24-year-old Dutch student Renée Hartevelt from Heemstede in 1981, has died in Tokyo at the age of 73.
Hartevelt and Sagawa met while studying at Sorbonne University in Paris, where, after inviting Hartevelt into his home, Sagawa killed her with a gunshot to the neck.
Sagawa then went on to abuse his victim’s dead body and eat parts of her remains for a total of three days.
Issei Sagawa pic.twitter.com/XJf6Buxnud
— Mat’s Dad (@LePapaDeMat) November 23, 2022
We’ll spare you the gory details (seriously, it’s haunting) but let’s just say it was tragic.
Walking free
After Sagawa was caught trying to dump Hartevelt’s remains into a pond in the Bois de Boulogne, he was arrested by French police.
Here’s where it gets hectic: despite the arrest, a psychiatric evaluation in France deemed Sagawa unfit for prosecution — so justice was never served for Renée Hartevelt’s murder.
Even worse, after spending some time in a psychiatric institution, Sagawa was deported back to Japan where Sagawa was declared mentally sane. (Excuse us?)
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In the meantime, France had dropped charges against Sagawa. As a result, he was released in 1986 and walked free until the end of his life.
The ‘Kobe Cannibal’ in pop culture
Issei Sagawa was later on nicknamed the ‘Kobe Cannibal,’ after his place of birth in Kobe, Japan – because all good murderers need a catchy nickname, right?
When he returned to Japan, he didn’t make a secret of his crime but instead became a well-known pop-culture figure.
Not only did he appear on talk shows, but he even collaborated on a book and a documentary film detailing the murder and his obsession with cannibalism.
But things get even worse: according to the New York Post, Sagawa went as far as translating his fame to soft-core porn films, where he would “bite” his co-stars. Now, we’re not here to fetish shame — but we’ve gotta shake a disapproving digital finger at that.
In addition, Sagawa’s gruesome deed was also the inspiration behind The Stranglers ‘La Folie’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Too much blood.’
Even after suffering a stroke that permanently damaged his nervous system in 2013, Sagawa continued to exploit and profit from his murder of Renée Hartevelt by giving various interviews reflecting on his actions.
Understandably, Renée Hartevelt’s family was not happy about the upsetting developments around the case and the attention that Sagawa received.
Dead at last
On November 24, 73-year–old Sagawa died of complications from pneumonia, his brother announced. His funeral was already held and attended only by his family.
Shocked? Surprised? Tell us your thoughts on this cannibal adult movie star in the comments below.
