was a Japanese serial killer and thief.

Biography

Katsuta was born in a farmhouse in Kyoto. Katsuta committed several murders and robbed several houses before being apprehended. The exact number of murders he committed is unknown. He killed his victims by strangling and shooting them. On October 27, 1982, he hit a police officer with a car and stole a handgun. On October 31, he attempted to commit a robbery, but killed a man with a handgun during the failed attempt. On November 1, he shot another man, who survived. Because he was armed, Katsuta continued to elude capture. The incident was officially named Metropolitan Designated Case 113. On January 31, 1983, he was arrested while threatening a man with a handgun. He was initially thought to have only killed his victims while robbing them, but later confessed to seven other murders. He may have killed as many as 22 people, but the police charged him with only eight counts of murder. The police suspected that Katsuta raped some of his victims before killing them, but were not able to prove this. His crimes greatly shocked Japan because he was a

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

. During Katsuta's killing spree, he had even appeared on television and won multiple awards. The 1984 film was based on his crimes. In the film, the murderer was named Kiyoshi Tatsuta. Kazuya Nakayama, who has a criminal record of his own, played the role of Tatsuta. In prison, he was mistrustful of his fellow inmates. While incarcerated, he met a Christian woman, who was also known by the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Yūko Kurusu. He was adopted by her mother and changed his name to Kiyotaka Fujiwara. On January 17, 1994, the Supreme Court of Japan upheld his two death penalty convictions, a first in the history of the Japanese Supreme Court. One was for seven murders between 1972 and 1980, and the other was for killing a man with a handgun in 1982. Katsuta was executed at the

Nagoya Detention House is a correctional facility in Higashi-ku, Nagoya. A part of the penal system of Japan, it is operated by the Ministry of Justice. One of Japan's seven execution chambers is in this facility. Notable prisoners *Kiyotaka Katsuta was a Japa ...

on November 30, 2000. After entering the execution chamber, Katsuta asked a prison guard "Would you please take off my blindfold, as I wish to have a look once more at the face of my chaplain whom I revere?" The prison officer removed Katsuta's blindfold so he could look at his chaplain, a Buddhist priest. While the priest recited Hannya Shingyo, Katsuta, who had changed his surname to Fujiwara after being convicted, gave out one by one the names of all the people he had killed. He said, "I'm sincerely sorry." Katsuta's blindfold was then put back on and he was taken to the gallows.

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*
Serial killer, two other murderers hanged
''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', December 1, 2000
The world of Kiyotaka Katsuta and Yuko Kurusu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katsuta, Kiyotaka 1948 births 2000 deaths 20th-century executions by Japan Executed Japanese serial killers Japanese people convicted of murder Japanese thieves Male serial killers People convicted of murder by Japan People executed by Japan by hanging People from Kyoto Prefecture Robbers

Biography

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References

External links