Hiroshi Maeue


Hiroshi Maeue, aka "The Suicide Website Murderer", was a Japanese serial killer, who lured his victims via the internet and killed three people in 2005.
Maeue suffered from a paraphilic psychosexual disorder which translated into being unable to achieve sexual release in the absence of performing an act of strangulation.

Crimes

Maeue entered the Kanazawa Institute of Technology, where he assaulted and attempted to strangle a male friend. He dropped out in 1988. He was later arrested and charged with assault after beating and attempting to asphyxiate a male work associate in 1995. After settling out of court, he was released but fired from his job. In 2001, he was arrested once more for the attempted strangling of two women and sentenced to a year in prison and 3 years of suspended sentence. After being released early on good behavior, he was arrested again for attempting to strangle a junior high school boy, for which he was sentenced to a year and 10 months in prison.

Suicide website murders

Maeue murdered three people after his release in 2005. He was convicted of killing a 14-year-old boy, a 25-year-old woman, and a 21-year-old man, all of whom were members of an online suicide club. He lured his victims by suggesting they meet and end their lives together by committing suicide via a charcoal burner in a sealed car. However, after a brief conversation, he would strangle them with his bare hands. This brought him sexual pleasure, and he later claimed he developed his desire to kill this way after reading of similar events in a mystery novel as a child. All three of his victims were killed within a span of four months.

Trial and death

In his trial, prosecutors called Maeue a "lust murderer." On March 28, 2007, the Osaka District Court sentenced him to death. Although his defence team launched an appeal, he accepted the judgment of the court and expressed a willingness to pay for his crimes with his life, retracting his appeal on July 5, 2007.
On July 28, 2009, Hiroshi Maeue was hanged in Osaka, along with 25-year-old condemned criminal Yukio Yamaji.