In 1981, Issei Sagawa shot and killed a woman in his apartment

In 1981, Issei Sagawa shot and killed a woman in his apartment

He ate different parts of her body over a two-day period because he thought it would let him "absorb her beauty." He also had sex with her corpse. Later on, Sagawa tried to dispose of the leftovers in a lake in France, where he lived. He awaited trial for two years, was declared insane, and the charges against him were dropped. He ultimately became a mini-celebrity in Japan, where he couldn't be legally detained, so he remains free to this day. On 11 June 1981, Sagawa, then 32, invited his Sorbonne classmate Renée Hartevelt, a Dutch woman, to dinner at his apartment at 10 Rue Erlanger, under the pretext of translating poetry for a school assignment. Sagawa planned to kill and eat her, having selected her for her health and beauty - characteristics he felt he lacked. Sagawa considered himself weak, ugly, and small (he was 144.8 cm (4 ft 9 in) tall) and claims he wanted to absorb her energy. She was 25 years old and 178 cm (5 ft 10 in). After Hartevelt arrived, she began reading poetry at a desk with her back to Sagawa when he shot her in the neck with a rifle. Sagawa said he fainted after the shock of shooting her, but awoke with the realization that he had to carry out his plan. Sagawa had sex with her corpse but he could not bite into her skin because his teeth were not sharp enough, so he left the apartment and purchased a butcher knife. Sagawa consumed various parts of Hartevelt's body, eating most of her breasts and face either raw or cooked, while saving other parts in his refrigerator. Sagawa also took photographs of Hartevelt's body at each eating stage. Sagawa then attempted to dump the remains of Hartvelt's corpse in a lake in the Bois de Boulogne, carrying her dismembered body parts in two suitcases, but was caught in the act and arrested by French police four days later. Sagawa's wealthy father provided a lawyer for his defense, and after being held for two years awaiting trial, Sagawa was found legally insane and unfit to stand trial by the French judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, who ordered him held indefinitely in a mental institution. After a visit by the author Inuhiko Yomota, Sagawa's account of his kill was published in Japan under the title In the Fog. Sagawa's subsequent publicity and macabre celebrity likely contributed to the French authorities' decision to deport him to Japan, where he was immediately committed to Matsuzawa Hospital in Tokyo. His examining psychologists all declared him sane and found sexual perversion was his sole motivation for murder. As the charges against Sagawa in France had been dropped, the French court documents were sealed and were not released to Japanese authorities; consequently Sagawa could not legally be detained in Japan. Sagawa checked himself out of the hospital on 12 August 1986, and has subsequently remained free since that day. Sagawa's continued freedom has been widely criticized. In 2013, Sagawa was hospitalized from a cerebral infarction, which permanently damaged his nervous system. He now lives alone and needs daily assistance, which is provided by his younger brother or from caregivers.