Between August 1988 and June 1989, Tsutomu Miyazaki murdered four school girls between the ages of 4 and 7. Miyazaki was born on August 21, 1962, in Itsukaichi, Tokyo, to a wealthy family. He was born premature and, as a result, was born with a rare birth defect that caused the joints in his hands to be fused together. Miyazaki’s birth defect resulted in him being bullied during grade school, which led to him keeping to himself and going through life with few friends. After graduating high school, he attended a junior college and studied to become a photography tech. In May of 1988, Miyazaki’s grandfather, whom he was very close with, passed away, which put him into a deeper depression, and he isolated himself from his family.

Three months later, on August 22, Miyazaki lured 4-year-old Mari Konno to his car and drove her under a bridge near the woods. Eventually, he murdered and molested her corpse. Miyazaki left her body in the woods near his home but took her clothes with him. When her body decomposed, Miyazaki returned and removed her hands and feet.Miyazaki burned Konno’s bones in his furnace and ground them into a powder before sending them to her family with some of her teeth, photos of her clothing, and a postcard that stated, “Mari. Bones. Cremated. Investigate. Prove.”

On October 3 of the same year, Miyazaki offered Masami Yoshizawa, age 7, a ride and drove her to the same location where he murdered Konno. Miyazaki murdered Yoshizawa, performed sexual acts with her corpse, and then took her clothes. He left her body in the same location as he originally placed Konno’s.

Two months later, on December 12, 1988, Miyazaki saw Erika Namba, age 4, walking home from a friend’s house and forced her into his car. He parked in a parking lot and forced her to take her clothes off, and began to take pictures of her. He then killed Namba and tied her hands and feet behind her back. Miyazaki then covered her body with a sheet and put her in his trunk. He discarded her clothes in the woods and her body in a nearby parking lot. Namba’s body was found three days later. A week after Miyazaki murdered Namba, he sent her family a postcard which stated, “Erika. Cold. Cough. Throat. Rest. Death.”

Miyazaki waited 6 months before he abducted and murdered another victim. On June 6, 1989, he convinced Ayako Nomoto, aged 5, to let him take photos of her before murdering her and taking her corpse to his home, where he spent the next two days engaging in sexual acts with her body. When Nomoto’s body began to decompose, Miyazaki dismembered her, keeping her hands and drinking blood from them. He then left her body in a cemetery and her head in the nearby woods. Two weeks after dismembering her, he returned to retrieve her body and took them back to his apartment.

On July 23, 1989, Miyazaki saw two sisters playing in a park and managed to separate them. He took the younger sister to a secluded area of the park and convinced her to remove her clothing and let him take pictures of her. The girl’s father found them and attacked Miyazaki but was unable to keep him at the park. Miyazaki fled on foot but did return to the park for his car, where he was arrested by police after the father called the incident in. When the police searched his house, they found over 5,000 recordings containing recordings of his victims as well as pornography videos.

Miyazaki’s trial began on March 30, 1990. Initially, he blamed an alter ego, “Rat Man,” for his actions, stating that the alter ego forced him to carry out these crimes. In Japan, those deemed to be of “unsound” mind are not subject to the death penalty and are often given a reduced sentence. Three teams of court-appointed psychiatrists attempted to diagnose Miyazaki. One team concluded that he had schizophrenia, and the other two deemed him to have multiple personality disorder. However, the third team determined that although he did have a personality disorder, he was capable of taking responsibility for his actions. Miyazaki was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997, and was executed on June 17, 2008.