Casefile True Crime - Case 196: Boy A

Episode Date: November 13, 2021

*** Warning: This case involves a child victim *** In March 1997, residents of Kobe, Japan were horrified when dead and mutilated cats began appearing at random along the city's sidewalks... --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Jessica Forsayeth Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn This episode's sponsors: Searching for Sarah MacDiarmid – New podcast from Casefile Presents Wine52 – Get 3 bottles of wine for free – just pay the £5.95 postage Aura Frames – Get $30 off a digital photo frame with promo code ‘CASEFILE’ SimpliSafe – Get 40% off the entire security system  For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-196-boy-a

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Learn more at thinkshinricks.ca Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode involves a crime against children. It may not be suitable for all listeners. On May 5 each year, Japan celebrates a national holiday called Children's Day. It's a day for families to gather to honor the children in their lives

and to wish them a lifetime of health and happiness. In 1997, in the city of Korbe, located on the southern side of Japan's main island, Honshu, Children's Day had added significance. Two years prior, Korbe experienced a devastating earthquake that killed 4,600 of its people. As the city rebuilt, its residents looked towards the children as a symbol of hope for their future. Dating back thousands of years, Children's Day is buried deep in ancient tradition. Large, colorful carp streamers are hung outside houses of those with children to symbolize strength and success, whilst dolls of famous samurai warriors are proudly displayed indoors.

Families treat themselves with kashuwamachi, rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste. Some families on Children's Day bathe in a tub sprinkled with iris leaves and roots. It is believed that the iris promotes good health. Not only that, bathing in iris leaves is said to ward off evil spirits. Approximately 540km southwest of Tokyo, Onosaka Bay, the city of Korbe is divided into nine different areas called wards. The Sumo Ward, situated along the coastline of Korbe, is an idyllic spot with a white sandy beach, boardwalks, cafes, and cherry blossom trees visible on the surrounding hillsides. However, even the beautiful scenery could not conceal

the awful sight that was presenting itself on residential streets of the area in March 1997. Dead cats, some strangled and others mutilated, were found on the sidewalks. The horrified and distressed locals were at a loss to explain the attacks. On Sunday, March 16, 1997, 10-year-old Hayaka Yamashita left her home in Sumo Ward. Although she was by herself, the sight of the little girl walking amongst the crowd raised no concerns from passers-by. Known worldwide for being a safe country, it is common for young people to run errands in Japan without parental supervision. Korbe, the seventh largest city in Japan, is regarded as one of the safest. Unbeknownst

to Hayaka, she was being watched by someone. As she emerged from the crowd and walked down a deserted street, the perpetrator saw his chance. Upon returning home afterwards, the perpetrator wrote the following entry in his diary. I carried out sacred experiments today to confirm how fragile human beings are. I brought the hammer down when the girl turned to face me. I think I hit her a few times, but I was too excited to remember. Hayaka Yamashita was found unconscious and taken to hospital. She succumbed to her injuries seven days later.

An investigation into Hayaka's death failed to unearth any suspects. Authorities suspected her killer was also responsible for stabbing a nine-year-old girl that day as well. Seriously wounded, but not fatally, the girl could not describe her attacker, only her immense surprise as an unknown male approached and drove a knife into her stomach. The community were appalled, as homicide in Kobe was nearly unheard of, let alone the murder of a child. Children's Day passed without celebration for Hayaka Yamashita's parents. Investigators were still no closer to catching her killer. They theorized that the murder may be related to a similar attack where a group of girls had been set upon by a male yielding a

hammer earlier that month, although with nowhere near the severity encountered by Hayaka. The group of girls did not recognize their attacker and could do little to shed blood on who he might be. Meanwhile, dead cats stopped appearing on the sidewalks. On Saturday, May 24, 1997, just over two months after the attack on Hayaka Yamashita, 11-year-old Jun Hase left his home in Kobe just before 6pm. Although intellectually impaired and only able to say his name, the exceedingly friendly and happy Jun was more than capable of making the 500-meter journey from his parents' house to his grandfather's house that night. Some of his friends were waiting at a nearby train station

and called out to the popular Jun as he walked by. The perpetrator watched on. He approached Jun. Because of Jun's trusting nature, he was easily led into the hilly and deserted woodlands. When Jun failed to appear at his grandfather's house, his anxious family phoned the local police. After conducting a search of the local area, they failed to find any sign of the young boy. Suddenly, dead cats began appearing on the streets of Sumo Ward once more. Three days later, a janitor at the Kobe Municipal Tomigawa Oka Junior High School where Jun Hase attended as a student arrived for a day's work. At 6.40am, he approached the large iron front gate to the school and recoiled at the side in front of him.

The decapitated head of Jun Hase was affixed to the gate. Jun's eyes had been gouged out and his mouth had been cut open from ear to ear. A piece of paper was wedged between Jun Hase's teeth. Retrieving the 10-centimeter piece of paper, police discovered a note written in red ink. Excerpts of the note taunted police reading, This is the beginning of the game. Try to stop me if you can, you stupid police. And, I desperately want to see people die. It is a thrill for me to commit murder. Nothing makes me more excited than killing. A bloody judgement is needed for my years of great bitterness.

I have gone through with my long-held revenge. Catch me if you can. Also written on the note were two English words, school, misspelled as SH00LL and killer. The note was signed with the alias Sayito Sakakibara, a combination of six kanji symbols for the words sake, devil, rose, sacred, and fight. At the very bottom, written in black ink, was a symbol not used in the Japanese language. It consisted of a shape similar to a teardrop, above which was drawn a circle divided into four quarters. The act of sending the police a taunting message via a handwritten letter bore a striking resemblance

to another infamous crime spree, the Zodiac Killer. Having been active decades earlier, near 9000 kilometers away in California, Japanese authorities knew they weren't dealing with the Zodiac. But, a copycat. Schools in Kobe were closed while police scoured the area. The six kanji letters signed at the bottom of the note were found graffitied on outer walls of the school grounds, and two dead cats were found nearby. When searching a secluded woodland area approximately 500 meters from the school, the body of Jun Hase was found. An autopsy revealed that he had been strangled to death before being decapitated, and that the strangling took place soon after he had gone missing three

days prior. Over 400 local police questioned nearly everyone in the middle-class neighborhood. They learned that in the week prior to Jun Hase's murder, a man aged in his 30s had been seen by a number of witnesses staring at the school from a parked car. The hunt began for the man who could only be described as wearing a navy jacket and glasses. Authorities believed that the killer of Jun Hase might have been a former pupil at the school. They theorized that he may have been inclined to carry out such an attack as retaliation for being mistreated or bullied during his school years. Detectives fervently checked school records of past pupils in the hope of identifying a person of interest. Nobody stood out. Meanwhile, anxiety swept the streets of Kobe, a city completely

unaccustomed to such a brutal murder. Parents accompanied their children to and from school and forbade them from going outdoors unsupervised. 250 extra police officers were dispatched to patrol the neighborhood. Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto called for the killer to be found as soon as possible. Yet, he eluded police. Housewife Takako Miyoshi told The Washington Post, I feel resentment toward the police who have not been able to do anything. Two months have passed since one girl was stabbed and one killed, and as time passes, it becomes more difficult to solve the case. Although detectives were struggling to come up with a suspect, they did have some clues behind the method of his killing.

Linguists and psychologists suggested that the killer may have been influenced by a television series that aired in Japan the year prior. In the popular thriller, the perpetrator stuffed a rose into the mouth of each of his victims as a calling card. Once again, the killing of cats in the neighborhood ceased. On June 6, 1997, two weeks after the murder of Jun Hase, a brown envelope arrived at the offices of newspaper Kobe Shinbun. It was postmarked June 3 and had no name or return address. The rambling 1400-word letter inside was signed by Sayito Sakakibara. The murder of Jun Hase had dominated news headlines since the young boy's death. In their haste to publish new details on the crime, including the note that had been shoved in Jun's mouth, the media had erroneously

mentioned that the note had been signed on Ibarra or Devil's Rose in English. This letter sought to clarify this mistake with Sayito Sakakibara writing, From now on, if you misread my name or spoil my mood, I will kill three vegetables a week. If you think I can kill only children, you are greatly mistaken. Detectives understood his use of the word vegetables as a disparaging term for people or for those with an intellectual or physical disability. The letter went on. If I was the same as I was when I was born, I probably would not have taken the trouble to place a severed head at the front gate of a junior high school. Anyone who tries can enjoy

killing people furtively. As one who has led and continues to lead an invisible existence, I have gone out of my way to attract public attention because I want to be recognised as a real person, at the very least in your fantasies. At the same time, I have not forgotten to take revenge on the compulsory education system which has created me as an invisible existence and the society which gave birth to this education system. However, I would gain nothing from mere revenge, save unburdening myself of the load of carried until now. So, I discussed this with a friend who, alone in the world, is invisible like myself. He said, for revenge that is worthy rather than miserable, mix your revenge with murder. Change

your hobby from murder to revenge and you will create a new world which is yours alone. Moved by those words, I have started this killing game. But even now, I don't know why I enjoy killing. I can only say that it is in my nature. It is only when I kill that I can be freed from daily hatred and feel a sense of relief. It is only other people's pain that can ease my pain. The arrival of this led off furthered the detective's belief that Sayito Sakakibara was influenced by the Zodiac Killer as he was well known for sending messages to authorities through newspapers. They speculated that the killing and mutilation of cats preempted each murder. Other than that, they had few leads to go on. The man in his 30s that they were chasing

was not identified. On June 27, three weeks after the letter arrived at the newspaper Korbeshinbun, someone came forward with information to the police. They knew of a person who was particularly cruel to animals and who had confided that he had killed a cat for fun and buried it. The next day, the lead detective on the Jun Hase murder case held a televised press conference. After apprehending the male person for torturing cats, he confessed to the murder of Jun Hase, the bludgeoning murder of Ayaka Yamashita, the hammer attack on the group of girls, and the stabbing of the 9-year-old girl who survived the ordeal. He gave no motive to detectives other than saying, I simply wanted to try out various methods of killing.

He also admitted to being inspired to kill by comic book hero Baramon, who used beheading as one form of killing his enemies. The public were stunned as the detective announced they would not be releasing the name of the killer. This was because the perpetrator who had the entire city of Korbesh living in fear for over three months was not an adult. He was a 14-year-old school student. To protect the killer's identity, he was given the name Boye. Searching Boye's bedroom, detectives found a book about the 1990s New York Zodiac killer Copycat, violent comics, and horror movies, as well as his diary in which he documented his killings.

One week after the death of Ayaka Yamashita, he wrote, This morning my mom told me, poor girl, the girl that was attacked seems to have died. There is no sign of me being caught. He then went on to thank an imaginary god he named Barmoye Dorkishin for keeping him safe. Also taken into evidence was red tape identical to the tape used to seal the envelope sent to the newspaper and a knife which Boye admitted to using to behead Jun Hase along with a hacksaw. Neighbours were stunned by the arrest, telling the media that Boye came from a regular middle class working family. He could often be seen playing table tennis with his two younger brothers

or gardening with his family in their backyard. Boye's father worked for an established company and his mother did community work. He seemed to them like a normal and polite teenager. Classmates of Boye told a different story. At the Tomi Gaoka Junior High School where Boye was in the third grade, his classmates told of his love of cutting up frogs and torturing cats. Shortly before his attack on Jun Hase, he was expelled from school after bludgeoning a fellow student who bullied him with an iron pipe. According to his classmates, Boye would talk to Jun Hase in the playground. The discovery that these horrendous murders had been carried out

by a 14-year-old with a hatred towards the education system caused despair amongst the Japanese population. Prime Minister Ryu Taro Hashimoto asked on television, where did we go wrong? Government officials and members of the public alike were quick to blame violence depicted in manga comics, video games and on film. The nation's construction minister said, movies lacking any literary or educational merit made for just showing cruel scenes can easily be watched by adolescent children. Adults should be blamed for this. In response, the education ministry announced a study into the relationship between violence in

the media and its effect on young people. They also vowed to create a new curriculum in schools to focus on spiritual education and teaching the preciousness of life. Japan's education system also came under scrutiny for the pressure forced upon students without care given to their emotional well-being. Some speculated that the stress of intensive examinations became too much for the boy and he lashed out in violence. A mental health counselor in Korbe was reported in The Guardian as being particularly struck by Boy A's claim that he felt invisible in his letter to the newspaper. He said, his letter pinpoints a basic social problem. The Japanese are not good at communicating on an

individual basis. The boy wanted to communicate, he wanted to connect, but unfortunately he couldn't and his anger and feelings accumulated. Because of his age, Boy A served time in a medical reformatory for juveniles in western Tokyo to receive psychiatric treatment and counseling. Due to the seriousness of his crimes, in the year 2000, Japanese legislature was amended to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14. On March 11, 2004, the Japanese Ministry of Justice announced that 21-year-old Boy A was being released on a provisional basis with full release to follow in January 2005. As reported in The Japan Times, the head of the parole board who decided on his release said,

the board has interviewed the man on various occasions and closely examined his correctional state. We came to conclude that psychiatric care and correctional education at reformatries have obtained good results. Boy A's lawyer asked that his identity and whereabouts be protected, telling The Japan Times. If people around him make a big fuss and put him on the spot, it would make it difficult for him to reintegrate into society. By realizing the value of his own life, he now feels he wants to make up for having taken people's lives. He has grown up a lot in a short period of time. I am not worried about the possibility of repeated fancies. Boy A was released without incident and found work as a day laborer. His identity and whereabouts

were protected. Through her lawyer, Boy A's mother released a statement to The Japan Times saying, Our son is now doing his best to have courage to plunge into the world of anxieties and uncertainties. I believe there will be a long and tough road ahead for us and our son. But, if possible, I hope the public will watch over us quietly. In June 2005, five months after his full release, Boy A published his memoir titled Zekka, under his pseudonym Sayito Sakakibara. Some bookstores refused to stock the memoir, but it quickly became a Japanese bestseller. The book's publisher defended its release, claiming that it gave an important insight into the mind of a killer.

In the epilogue, Boy A writes, I couldn't keep quiet about my past anymore. I had to write, otherwise I thought I would go insane. Jun Haase's father vehemently opposed the release of the book. According to The Japan Times, Boy A sent him a copy with a handwritten letter of apology inside. Zekka detailed what had happened to Jun, including how Boy A had lured him into the woodlands to play before strangling and decapitating him and taking his head home in a plastic bag. According to his memoir, Boy A, who called himself an incorrigible sexual deviant, then took the head into the bathroom, locked the door, and committed an act far more heinous than murder.

As printed in The Japan Times, another excerpt of Zekka reads, When I advanced to junior high school, I had already become bored of killing cats, and gradually found myself fantasizing about how it would feel to murder human beings, like me. Although Boy A apologized to the families of his victims in the book, Jun Haase's father thought the apology shallow and false, saying, The book completely trampled on our feelings. It is clear that he is not sorry for what he did. According to The Star, the memoir also published the letters of apology that Boy A had sent to Ayaka Yamashita's mother every year since her death. Originally thinking that the letters were

sincere, the printing of these in his memoir angered Ayaka's mother, who realized they were only written to be shared in his book. After the release of Zekka, some members of the public questioned whether Boy A was rehabilitated at all. Passages of text showed a man unrepentant for his actions. In one excerpt, he described his feelings after placing Jun Haase's head on the gate to the school, saying, Let me confess something. I thought the site was a beauty. I felt like I was born just to see the ethereal beauty of what was in front of my eyes. I thought I could die. In 2015, Boy A launched a website about himself titled The Unbearable Transparency of Being,

in which he posted strange images of an unclothed man with black fabric covering his face. The man, whom Boy A claimed to be himself, was then photoshopped onto a variety of images. One was the torso of the naked man photoshopped onto the body of a scorpion. Another was of a naked man lying on his back, holding an alien slug-like creature with teeth between his legs. In retaliation for the launch of the website, which seemed only to serve Boy A's own vanity, Tabloid magazine The Shukan Post exposed Boy A's real identity. According to The Shukan Post, Boy A's real name is Shinichiro Azuma. In 2015, he lived in the Sayitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. In 2021, it is unknown if he still lives

there or if he has changed location. He is not required to report his whereabouts to any parole boards and is free to live his life with no restrictions. Boy A could be anywhere.