Takahiro Shiraishi is no longer alive.

But the man who lured suicidal young women on social media, murdered them, raped their corpses, dismembered their bodies, and stored their remains in coolers, will not be forgotten easily.

On Friday, Japan executed Shiraishi — its first hanging in nearly three years. The 33-year-old, dubbed the “Twitter killer,” was sentenced to death for killing nine people —eight women and one man — in his one-room apartment in Zama, just outside Tokyo, between August and October 2017. He found every single one of them online.

Using Twitter handles that suggested he could help people die, Shiraishi targeted those who expressed suicidal thoughts. He messaged them, gained their trust, invited them over, and then took their lives. The youngest was 15. The oldest was 26.

“This case, driven by selfish motives such as sexual and financial gratification, resulted in the deaths of nine individuals over two months – a deeply serious incident that has caused shock and anxiety across society,” Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki was quoted as saying by Reuters after signing off on the hanging. “I understand it is an especially heartbreaking case for both the victims and their families.”

The horror was uncovered on Halloween 2017, when police, following a missing person report, arrived at his apartment. A 23-year-old woman had disappeared. Her brother accessed her Twitter account and alerted authorities to suspicious conversations with a user calling himself a “hangman.” According to CNN, when the officers reached the flat, they walked into what Japanese media would later call a “house of horrors.”

Inside were three coolers and five containers. Nine human heads. Bones with the flesh scraped off. Arms and legs shoved into toolboxes.

Shiraishi pleaded guilty. According to CNN, he told the court he had killed to satisfy his sexual desires.

“He caused great shock and unrest to society,” Justice Minister Suzuki told Reuters.

Capital punishment in Japan is carried out by hanging.

Japan has long defended its use of the death penalty, despite global pressure to abolish it. “It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed,” Suzuki was quoted as saying by the media.

This was also the first execution since Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba took office in October 2024.

Shiraishi’s case stood apart — not just for its brutality, but for how it exposed the dark side of social media. His conviction was finalised in 2020 after his lawyer’s appeal was withdrawn. But even now, some families of the victims feel conflicted.

“I’d rather have seen him spend his life reflecting on the crimes he committed, than simply losing it through death penalty,” the father of one victim told NHK.

(With inputs from Reuters)