Tsutomu Miyazaki Victims
Between August 1988 and June 1989, four girls aged 4 to 7 were abducted and killed in Tokyo and neighbouring Saitama Prefecture. Tsutomu Miyazaki was arrested in July 1989, sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court in 1997 and, after the Supreme Court upheld the sentence in 2006, hanged at the Tokyo Detention House on June 17, 2008.
- Status
- Conviction
- Date
- August 22, 1988 – June 6, 1989
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
- Victims
- Female
- Decade
- 1980s
- Open
- Partly resolved
- Charges or trial
- ClosedConviction
At least one person was convicted in connection with the case.
Case background and investigation
Four young girls were abducted and killed in Tokyo and neighbouring Saitama Prefecture between August 1988 and June 1989. According to Anime News Network and Wikipedia, they were Mari Konno, 4, taken on August 22, 1988; Masami Yoshizawa, 7, taken on October 3, 1988; Erika Namba, 4, taken on December 12, 1988; and Ayako Nomoto, 5, taken on June 6, 1989.
Tsutomu Miyazaki, then in his twenties, was arrested on July 23, 1989 after he was caught trying to take obscene photographs of a young girl, Anime News Network reported. Police later found more than 5,700 videotapes in his home, including violent and pornographic material as well as anime. Media coverage labelled him the 'Otaku Murderer', and Anime News Network notes that the case helped both popularise and stigmatise the word otaku in Japan.
According to the court findings summarised by Japan Today, Miyazaki abducted and killed the girls to satisfy his sexual desires and his wish to own video footage of corpses, and he mutilated the bodies. He sent letters to families claiming responsibility for the killings and delivered remains to one family. Throughout the proceedings he did not express remorse to the victims' families, and he attributed the crimes to a 'rat man', ABC News (Australia) reported.
His trial, which began in 1990 according to Anime News Network, lasted years, in part because of disputes over his mental state; court-appointed psychiatrists reached differing diagnoses. The Tokyo District Court sentenced him to death on April 14, 1997, according to Wikipedia. The Tokyo High Court upheld the sentence in 2001, and on January 17, 2006 the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, ruling that although he had an extreme character disorder he was fully responsible at the time of the crimes, Japan Today reported.
Miyazaki, 45, was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House on June 17, 2008, one of three prisoners executed that day on orders signed by Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, according to Japan Today and ABC News. Japan Today reported that the execution came about two years and four months after the Supreme Court finalised his sentence, ending court proceedings that had lasted around 16 years.
Timeline
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August 22, 1988Mari Konno, 4, is abducted.
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October 3, 1988Masami Yoshizawa, 7, is abducted.
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December 12, 1988Erika Namba, 4, is abducted.
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June 6, 1989Ayako Nomoto, 5, is abducted.
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July 23, 1989Tsutomu Miyazaki is arrested after trying to take obscene photographs of a young girl.
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April 14, 1997The Tokyo District Court sentences Miyazaki to death.
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2001The Tokyo High Court upholds the death sentence.
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January 17, 2006The Supreme Court of Japan rejects his final appeal.
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June 17, 2008Miyazaki is hanged at the Tokyo Detention House.
Sources
References used for this entry. ColdCaseIndex is an index of public information. To report an error, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
About this entry
This case is recorded as conviction and is kept in the index for its historical and investigative significance. At least one person was convicted in connection with the case.
To report an error on this page, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
Entry last updated September 29, 2026.
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