was a Japanese

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

. He murdered his own mother in 2000, was imprisoned, and then paroled in 2003. In 2005, two years after his release, he raped and then murdered a 27-year-old woman and her 19-year-old sister, for which he was sentenced to death. He was executed in 2009.

Biography

Yamaji was born into a poor family. His father died of

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

in January 1995. After graduating from junior high school, he

dropped out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

and began working at a newspaper store.

Matricide

Yamaji killed his 50-year-old mother with a metal baseball bat in Yamaguchi city,

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...

at age 16 on July 29, 2000. He called the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

and was arrested on July 31, 2000. He stated that his motives to commit matricide were his mother's silent telephone calls to the woman with whom he had fallen in love and his mother's mounting

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

. He was paroled in October 2003.

Double homicide

On November 17, 2005, Yamaji raped and murdered a 27-year-old woman named Asuka Uehara and her 19-year-old sister, Chihiro, with a knife, in Naniwa,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. He then set fire to their apartment and fled.The two victims had never met Yamaji before. He was arrested on December 5, 2005. While in custody, he stated to the Osaka police, "I could not forget the feeling when I killed my mother, and wanted to see human blood."

Sentence

On December 13, 2006, the Osaka District Court sentenced him to

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. His defense launched an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

, but according to his lawyers he retracted it since he was reluctant to pursue leniency. He was executed at the

Osaka Detention House is a correctional facility in Miyakojima-ku, Osaka. 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 * Kaoru Kobayashi (hanged 21 ...

alongside Japanese

Hiroshi Maeue on July 28, 2009.

References

External links