Female student shot, raped then eaten by cannibal killer who was never jailed | World | News
Issei Sagawa killed and ate a friend (Image: Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
A kind-hearted Dutch exchange student volunteered to help a Japanese friend with transcribing poetry at a Parisian university, unaware that she would never be seen alive again.
In a deeply disturbing case, Issei Sagawa admitted to French Police in 1981 he murdered classmate Renee Hartevelt, saying “I killed her to eat her flesh.”
Moreover, the depraved killer has never served time behind bars for his abhorrent crime.
Born in 1949, Sagawa maintains his cannibalistic fantasies commenced when he was just six-years-old.
He revealed his favourite childhood story was Hansel and Gretel, and he recalls staring at other pupils’ thighs during primary school whilst thinking: “Mmm, that looks delicious.”
Renee Hartevel was invited over for dinner by the cannibal (Image: YouTube)
As he grew older, his cannibalistic desires developed a sexual element as he started fantasising about devouring women’s flesh, especially Western celebrities like actress Grace Kelly, reports the Mirror.
When he was 23, he broke into the Tokyo apartment of a young German woman whilst donning a Frankenstein’s monster mask.
She woke before the four-foot nine-inch Sagawa could initiate his assault and subdue her. He confessed to police he had intended to sexually attack her, and his affluent father paid compensation to the young woman to drop the charges, allowing Sagawa to walk free.
Subsequently in 1977, he travelled to Paris to study languages and literature at the Sorbonne University. Sagawa, 28 at the time, became friends with Renee, who would regularly visit his flat to teach him German.
On 11 June 1981, whilst she was at his flat for dinner and to assist him with coursework, Sagawa shot her in the neck.
Issei Sagawa was never jailed for his gruesome crime (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
He remembered: “I thought about calling an ambulance, but then I thought, ‘Hang on, don’t be stupid’. You’ve been dreaming about this for 32 years and now it’s actually happening!'”.
He went on to rape Renee’s lifeless body before consuming parts of her. Some of the flesh he ate raw, whilst other portions he prepared before eating.
Over a two-day period, the monstrous cannibal devoured sections of Renee’s breasts, calves, lips and thighs.
When he determined it was time to get rid of the body, he used two large suitcases, stuffing the remainder of her body into them before flagging down a taxi.
The taxi driver transported him to a nearby park where Sagawa attempted to dump the suitcases in Bois de Boulogne Park.
However, two joggers, horrified by the sight of blood leaking from the suitcases, contacted the authorities. Police were rapidly able to connect the suitcases to Sagawa with the assistance of the taxi driver.
At his residence they discovered the horrifying remnants of a meal consisting of cooked human flesh, as well as Renee’s photo ID card. He was arrested and held in France, during which time psychologists evaluated him.
Sagawa’s father stepped in once again, securing a top solicitor who managed to have him declared legally insane and unfit for trial.
For the next four years, Sagawa resided in a French high-security psychiatric ward, where he wrote and illustrated a novel, ‘In The Fog’.
The book told the chilling story of a man who kills a woman, desecrates her body, and eats parts of her flesh. Many speculated that this was a retelling of his own horrific deeds.
Issei Sagawa had wanted to eat human flesh since he was a boy (Image: Getty Images)
Gruesome crime scene photos from Renee’s murder were leaked and prominently featured in a popular French magazine in 1985.
The scandal led to the arrest of one journalist and the confiscation of 200,000 copies of the publication by authorities.
Sagawa was deported back to Japan, where he was sent to a Tokyo hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Medical professionals in his home country concluded that he had a personality disorder – but wasn’t legally insane, meaning he could face criminal charges for his horrific actions.
However, French authorities declined to assist with the prosecution and, shockingly, Sagawa was released as a free man in 1986.
He subsequently gained celebrity status and even starred in a pornographic film in 1992 where he simulated cannibalising a woman.
Issei Sagawa wrote a book while in hospital (Image: YouTube)
Sagawa wrote nearly 20 books and maintained a weekly column in a Japanese publication. He also appeared on cooking shows, wrote restaurant reviews and sold paintings.
In November 2022, the depraved killer passed away aged 73 from complications arising from pneumonia.
Sagawa consistently insisted that being a cannibal was “simply a fetish, and that, “If a normal man fancied a girl, he’d naturally feel a desire to see her as often as possible, to be close to her, to smell her and kiss her, right?
“To me, eating is just an extension of that. Frankly, I can’t fathom why everyone doesn’t feel this urge to eat, to consume other people.”
