'I was determined to eat someone before I was too old, before my passion died out.'

Issei Sagawa

Centuries ago, the Bois de Boulogne belonged to the kings and queens of France. They would attend with their parties, climb on their horses, and go hunting. Bestowed upon Paris by Napoleon III in 1853, at two thousand acres, it is the largest of the capital city’s great parks.

The Bois commands quite a vista, with its many lakes and sweeping expanses of green. There is no shortage of activity in the park during the day. When the weather is good, some take to the lakes in their boats, enjoying the sun-dappled waters, lazily navigating the afternoon. Criss-crossed as the park is, with many paths and thoroughfares, an abundance of joggers, cyclists and horse-riders weave in and out of pedestrian traffic.

Issei Sagawa, under arrest for the murder of Dutch student, Renée Hartevelt.

The park is still fairly eventful at night, but the atmosphere is different. There is an undercurrent. Throughout the seventies, muggings had been a constant problem in the Bois, though by the early eighties this type of criminality was on the wane. Instead, prostitution had taken over. On any given night streetwalkers, male and female, would be at work throughout the park, including a throng of Brazilian transvestites, who clearly had their specific admirers. These nocturnal tempters flourished in the Bois, flirting and chatting with prospective clients, oblivious of passers-by out for a leisurely ramble or to enjoy dinner at one of the park’s restaurants or cafes.

By the early 1990s, with the spectre of AIDS looming over the city, police enforced a ‘no-parking’ edict after dark. They were determined to drive out those seeking the services of prostitutes. Frequently, sex-trade customers would arrive in their vehicles and utilise them for covert liaisons beneath the Bois’ vast dark canopy.

But that was still in the future. The man who entered the Bois de Boulogne just before midnight on Saturday, 13 June 1981, was not there for a late evening stroll or to seek action among those that plied their wares from the shadows. He was here to get rid of something.

Close by, a middle-aged couple taking in the warm summer night were walking hand-in-hand beside Lac Inférieur, the largest of the Bois’ many lakes. As they strolled they noticed a city taxi pull into a side road up ahead. Out hopped a young “Asian-looking” gentleman. The couple would later describe the man as being very small and delicately built. They observed him struggling to pull two large suitcases from the boot of the taxi. Having paid the driver, he proceeded to place the apparently heavy cases onto a small trolley, which he then began to drag into the park.

The couple walked on, lost in the rhythm of their evening. Then the tiny man with his suitcases did something to further draw their attention. They slowed their pace and watched as he veered sharply across a grass verge and headed toward the edge of the lake. Clearly he intended to deposit his baggage into the water. Just then the man turned, glanced around him and spied his small and unexpected audience. The couple’s presence appeared to distract him from his mission. He panicked. Hastily sliding both cases under a nearby bush, he turned and fled into the darkness of the park. Intrigued by the little man’s bizarre departure, they approached the bushes under which he had left the suitcases, determined to find out what it was he had been about to sink in the lake. Unzipping the first case and peering inside, both cringed.

Issei Sagawa must have known that someone could easily have seen him that night, but the Bois was close to where he lived and he had already decided to dump his cases in one of its lakes. Hurtling through the trees and out onto the street, the miniscule, five feet tall figure, weighing in at just six stone, dashed for home, silently cursing his laxity and undoubtedly wondering when he would now be caught. As it happened, the police had already been called.

Upon their arrival, officers had been primed by the shaken couple for what to expect within the suitcase - the torso of a young woman. Crammed into its twin were the limbs and head that went with it. Taken to the mortuary, the bloody remains were removed from their tight confines and assembled on an autopsy table. Immediately noted by pathologists, was a gunshot wound in the nape of the victim’s torn neck, sufficient to have caused her death.

There was something else about the disarticulated body that merited instant note. Portions of its flesh were missing. Thick slices had been cut from the buttocks and thighs. The tip of the nose had been also removed.

Photographed and processed by technicians, these stomach-churning images would one day fall into a decidedly irresponsible pair of hands and be published in a popular French magazine. It is perhaps a more modern but no less distasteful spectacle that death scene photographs such as these are often made available on the Internet, where just a few clicks of a mouse can bring you face to face with them.

Fortunately, finding the man responsible for this ghastly crime would not prove too taxing; after all, the killer himself had inadvertently assisted the authorities by being so reckless in his disposal of the remains. The police knew they were looking for a short man of oriental genealogy, who had gotten out of a taxi cab. Of course, a city as cosmopolitan as Paris had more than its fair share of male residents who matched this description, but there was still the solid taxi lead to pursue. A conventional avenue of detective work was now open to investigators. Contacting all the taxi firms in Paris, to see if any of their drivers could recall picking up the little man with the suitcases was a daunting prospect but everyone involved was sure that it would lead them to the killer.

After a few days of systematic checking, their endeavours finally bore fruit. A driver came forward who remembered taking the fare. He had been summoned to an apartment building on Rue Erlanger, located within the fashionable and upscale district of Auteuil in the city’s 16th arrondissement - or district. Auteuil is the affluent French equivalent of Greenwich Village or Notting Hill; a chic, designer neighbourhood far removed from the crime and poverty-infested areas which begirded it. Rue Erlanger also just happened to be a short distance from the Bois de Boulogne.

Issei Sagawa had spent the last forty-eight hours in a paranoid state of flight, wondering when he would be receiving the knock on his door. He knew he had crossed the line, and in the most terrible way possible. Now they would be coming for him.

The apartment building the taxi driver remembered collecting his fare from was expensive but petite, just like many others in this street. And there was only one Asian man residing in the building. He rented one of the studio-flats on the second floor. Naturally, police were looking to talk with him. As their suspect had access to a firearm and was capable not only of murder, but also extensive mutilation and dismemberment, they were understandably on their guard as they moved along the upper landing toward his front door.

Inside the studio-flat, Issei Sagawa heard the door bell ring and with a deep sigh steeled himself to receive his not unexpected visitors. Indeed, he found it difficult to believe it had taken them this long.

*

From the moment he met Renée Hartevelt, he was captivated. The beautiful Dutch student had come to Paris to study literature at the Sorbonne, the city’s 13th century marrow of intellectual brilliance. This cultural haven for the bright and the young had immediately drawn the academically-gifted Renée. Unfortunately for her, it had also attracted a thirty-two-year old Japanese student who had arrived in town a few years earlier, named Issei Sagawa. He lived in rented accommodation in the Auteuil’s Dauphine district, a short distance from where he had a modern literature class at the Sorbonne’s School of Oriental Studies.

Unable to get Renée, who so perfectly matched his dreams, out of his head, Sagawa formulated a plan. Travelling home on the métro one afternoon, he was thrilled to come face-to-face with the girl who had so dominated his thoughts of late. It was chance, their meeting, and Sagawa would not pass it up. Renée Hartevelt recognised him from the literature class they shared and smiled politely as he sat down beside her. The pair had their studies in common and so Sagawa used this to strike up a casual conversation. Though fundamentally shy and retiring, Sagawa knew what he wanted. For her part, the astute Renée Hartevelt recognised that behind the retiring exterior there was an obviously intelligent young man, possessed of much wit and charm.

On this occasion, their dialogue went no further than mutual academic interests, but it was an important development for Sagawa. The ice had been broken and events were warming up. He eagerly anticipated their next literature class together, where he intended to move things along. After the lecture, it was suggested by the group that they go out that evening for a meal at a local Greek restaurant. Sagawa could barely suppress his joy when Renée expressed her desire to attend. Being part of the group, the invitation was also extended to the man with the plan.

The polite and affable Sagawa had tried hard to ingratiate himself with his classmates. His eastern origins interested those in the study group who were keen to sample Japanese cuisine. Right on cue, Sagawa set a date for them all to visit his apartment, where he would prepare a special meal for them all – a dish called sukiyaki, which consisted of traditional meat and noodles. Initially they all acquiesced, including Renée Hartevelt.

When it came to the evening in question however, all but one of his fellow students failed to show. Sagawa had known that most people found him a bit odd and he considered himself to be without a single person he could call his friend, so he was hardly able to conceal his surprise and pleasure at the fatalistic decision made by Renée Hartevelt to arrive as his sole guest.

Repairing to Sagawa’s small open plan living room, the pair conversed happily about their interests, love of music and mutual studies, with Sagawa playing up to his intellectual accomplishments. Like a budding Hannibal Lecter, he convivially imparted his sophisticated classical music and culinary tastes.

In a constant state of arousal by the girl who so obsessed him, Sagawa was tempted to follow through, that very night, with the plan he had devised. Restraining him was the fact that he was unprepared for Renée showing up alone and delivering herself to him so readily. If he could somehow orchestrate another encounter, he would have her.

Inviting Renée to talk further about herself, the answer presented itself when she mentioned that she spoke three languages fluently; English, French and German. Taking into account that she was short on finances, Sagawa swooped, expressing feigned interest in learning to speak German so that he might read, in its original language, some romantic poetry he was fond of. If Renée was interested in tutoring him, he would pay for her services. She accepted. Upon her return for his first “German lesson” Sagawa thought he would strike.

When Renée arrived at his flat several nights later, as psyched up and jittery with excitement as he was, Sagawa had last-minute reservations when faced with the reality of what he was about to do. The complex and powerful fantasy world he occupied was just that, fantasy. As all-consuming as it was, it was not yet real. Though he had been here before, he was now confronted with the reality of harming somebody and could not go through with it.

When Renée left that night, another opportunity missed, Sagawa berated himself for his cowardice. His fear tied his dark passion in knots and he had lost an inner battle. A lot of killers will claim that with some of their murders they struggled not to murder a victim. In Sagawa’s case this was reversed. He found the question of whether or not to kill enormously taxing. Highly agitated, he wondered if he could go through with it the next time Renée visited. Simply masturbating was no longer enough to hold his demons at bay. He knew what he wanted; he had to do this. Next time there must be no turning back.

But next time he failed again. With Renée seated comfortably on a pile of cushions on the floor, reading passages from a book to him, Issei Sagawa moved quietly to a cupboard and took out the .22 calibre rifle he kept there. Stalking up behind the distracted girl he pointed the weapon directly at the back of her neck and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The gun had jammed. Anxious but relieved that Renée seemed not to have heard the weapon’s dry click; Sagawa quickly returned the rifle to the cupboard and flopped down next to her, pretending to absorb the remainder of his second German lesson.

Did the intense Sagawa see the gun-jamming incident as a sign of fate, an indicator that he should not go through with his diabolical plan? Not at all. On Thursday, 11 June 1981, Sagawa again took up his rifle and again crept up behind a preoccupied Renée Hartevelt. This time he blasted a hole in the back of the young woman’s neck and watched as she collapsed forward onto the living room carpet, blood pooling around her head. Sagawa would later say he had been so shocked at the result of his actions that he fainted. Whether or not this is credible is unknown; we have only the murderer’s word that this normal human reaction occurred to him.

When Sagawa came to, he claimed to have been feeling quite ill and experienced a rather otherworldly quality as he gazed upon his beautiful companion laying dead, murdered by him, her blood all over his carpet. Sagawa says he was afraid of the corpse he had created and that this very real act of murder was a far cry from the potent sexual phantasm he had nurtured for so long. Evidently the sudden repulsion did not incapacitate him for long as his next actions were to strip the girl of all her clothing and bite down hard on her left buttock.

Sagawa next went to his kitchen and returned with the sharpest implement he could find, an eight-inch carving knife. Gazing longingly at the smooth, cream-coloured flesh which had suffused his dream world, he got down on his hands and knees to use his knife on the dead girl. Slicing through what the killer would later describe as a "thick, yellow layer of fatty tissue," he reached the red meat he craved. Slowly, as if looking through the eyes of another, he drew the knife blade back and forth, neatly severing a piece of flesh. Placing this in his mouth, he began to chew, savouring what he says tasted like raw tuna fish. As Sagawa ate, he was not surprised to learn that he had an erection. Renée Hartevelt tasted exquisite. Sliding the corpse onto it's back, Sagawa then carved a section of flesh from the upper thigh, which, lost in his ecstasy, he consumed on the spot. So aroused was he by all this, Sagawa undressed himself and had intercourse with the partially cannabilized corpse.

Momentarily spent, he experienced again the stark veracity of what he had just done, and now there was a dead body, bleeding profusely on his living room floor, which needed getting rid of. The next stage of the plan was addressed in Issei Sagawa’s tiny bathroom. Heaving the body into the bath tub he used the same knife with which he had excised some of Renée’s flesh to begin cutting off both her legs. Next he hacked away at both arms until he was able to wrench them free of their sockets. Finally he plunged his knife into Renée’s throat and began severing her head. Throughout this nightmarish task, Sagawa kept the cold tap running, to get rid of the blood.

Issei Sagawa always claimed the act of dismemberment was not pleasurable for him. Again, we have only his word for this. Certainly, a lot of sexual psychopaths who mutilate their victim’s bodies experience gratification from doing so. Sagawa’s self-confessed revulsion at his deeds did not deter him from cutting more segments from Renée’s thighs and buttocks, wrapping them in plastic and placing them in his freezer for later consumption.

Slicing off one of Renée’s breasts proved distinctly unappealing to the killer, and he was incredibly disappointed that this part of the fantasy, like the murder and dismemberment, was not as satisfying as he had imagined it would be.

Sagawa says the amputated breast resembled animal offal and constituted a “revolting lump of fat.” He would not be dining on Renée Hartevelt’s breast after all. 

Issei Sagawa ventured from his flat over the next couple of days, disposing of the murdered girl’s clothing. He retained her trousers, presumably as a trophy - a personal item belonging to the victim that has significance for the offender - with which the newly initiated sex killer could relive his horrid crime.

Purchasing a couple of large suitcases, Sagawa stuffed the collection of body parts inside and sealed them. Perhaps in an effort to show that nothing untoward overshadowed his life, he accompanied fellow students on a trip to the cinema. Presumably his performance had been as effective as those given by the actors in the movie they watched, as all recalled Sagawa appearing relaxed and in robust good humour.

That same night he returned to his studio flat to eat some more of Renée Hartevelt. Taking several cutlets from the fridge, he fried the flesh in a pan, cooking it through to his liking. He says it tasted like veal, but was tough and chewy, despite his attempts to tenderise. Flavoured with salt, pepper and mustard, the meal was nonetheless highly enjoyable for Sagawa, who sat there again in a state of total sexual excitement. Each time he ate more of her flesh, his exhilaration would “peak.” He could not have enough of his new meat.

By Saturday night, Sagawa concluded that it was time to get rid of the body. The dismembered limbs and trunk were beginning to exude an unpleasant odour in the warm apartment. Sagawa took his taxi ride, got himself witnessed at the park, fled home and waited for his arrest. The rest of Renée Hartevelt was still in his refrigerator when the police came.

*

Tomi Sagawa fell down some steps, narrowly avoiding a miscarriage. The infant within her, nearly lost, was born prematurely but alive on Monday, 26 April 1949. His parents named him Issei and would later remark on how the baby was minute enough to fit in the palm of his father's hand. 

Immediately the child suffered his first serious ailment;  a disease which attacks the intestine called enteritis. In order to save his life, saline injections of potassium and calcium were administered. To everybody’s relief, after several treatments the baby regained his health.

As a toddler it would begin for him, this imprinting of cannibalism. There was an uncle, Mitsuo, who at the traditional New Year’s festivities often disguised himself as a frightening, boy-eating giant. Dressed to look like a monster, he would chase the scurrying children, pretending he wanted to devour them. Little Issei and his elder brother were the recipients of the “horrible” giant’s attentions and it was up to their father, Akira Sagawa, the knight quite literally in shining armour, to appear as their saviour. The boys whooped and yelled hysterically as the giant, making his hungry giant noises, dashed around the house in pursuit. Strangely, each time the game was played the giant would always emerge the victor, first blinding, and then slaying the gallant knight, Akira. The children would then be snatched up and taken away, ready for the giant’s equally sizable cast iron cooking pot.

Issei Sagawa later recalled the giddy mixture of terror and elation he felt as he and his brother were lowered, struggling wildly, into the “stew pot.” The game was profoundly enjoyed by both boys and had a deep and lasting effect on Issei. As he became old enough to read, his early entry into a make-believe world where humans ate other humans resounded in his mind and he found himself reaching for as many fairy tale books as he could find, keeping a keen eye out for any stories involving people being eaten by monsters and dragons, or other people.

The tale of Hansel and Gretel was one of his favourites and he would lay awake in bed for hours, fervently replaying in his mind the story of the witch and her “fattening up” of the children she captured. He experienced an early sexual awakening at the premise of other children being prepared to be eaten and fancied himself the victim. As with the game he played with his uncle, Issei enjoyed the masochistic element inherent in being manhandled, forced into the pot by a powerful giant. It gave him a torrid sensation in his body that he wilfully mustered again and again as he lay in his bed at night.

There was definitely something different about Issei Sagawa the schoolboy. Typically he was a loner, unable or unwilling to express his true feelings. Sharing his secret dreams of cannibalism was not something he was likely to consider due to fear of ridicule. The other children would have laughed and mocked him, or worse, rejected him. Though he was often to be found alone, virtually friendless, Sagawa enjoyed school. The process of learning was something the intelligent boy embraced, a compensatory mechanism for being unable to perform socially. Like other emerging killers who as children were shy and emotionally stunted, he sought refuge in the classroom.

As with the early years of the German serial murderer, Fritz Haarmann, in the care of his mother, Issei was thoroughly pampered by Tomi Sagawa. Hers was a need to constantly protect her frail and fragile child. As a result she ended up smothering the boy, stifling any move he may have wished to make toward autonomy. She kept him firmly under her wing whenever possible. School was the only place where Issei had to fend for himself, and even the disciplined structure of this environment shielded him from having to truly fly on his own. Break-times were always a chore for him, being so shy and awkward with his peers, and he conquered them by finding a quiet place where he could daydream. His classes and keen attitude toward study also helped keep him on a relatively even emotional keel.

In 1961, twelve-year-old Issei Sagawa began his secondary education. In accordance with his intellect, he veered away from fantastical fairytales like those written by the Brothers Grimm, and instead began to take notice of the great literary works. Stories unfolding in the faraway Western World, such as War and Peace, particularly drew him, but not in terms of love for the story itself. Sagawa was developing a preoccupation with revisiting particular characters, continually digesting descriptions of the grace and refined femininity of the heroines.

Sagawa later spoke of how he regarded these women, with their pale flesh and romantic dispositions, as “angels.” Around this time he was also becoming immersed in viewing the works of Auguste Renoir, the French impressionist. Renoir’s paintings typified the creamy, flesh tones Sagawa longed for in a woman and he would gaze upon these images often, wondering how all that luxuriant peach-hued skin would feel under his touch, and how it would taste.

As with the young Jeffrey Dahmer’s deviant interest in dissecting dead animals, Sagawa’s preoccupation with eating women corresponded, as he moved through puberty, with his initial attributable sexual leanings. Sagawa’s first ejaculation occurred whilst he thought of one of his favourite western embodiments; the actress, Grace Kelly. He was fixated on the low cut dresses she and other silver screen starlets favoured. His very specific fantasy included first caressing, then dining on such women. The fusion between sex and cannibalism had been established, and for Sagawa it was the point of no return.

Ever conscious of his introverted physicality, he felt he could nourish himself with flesh from the bodies of the amply proportioned Renoir beauties and Hollywood actresses who held him transfixed. As he grew, his fantasies intensified and he took pleasure in relieving himself through masturbation at any opportunity. Now a further element was introduced to his imaginings, overt violence.

One morbid fantasy involved Sagawa voyeuristically spying on a well-built western goddess as she showered. He would then creep up on her and viciously strangle her from behind with his belt. The idea of throttling a naked woman to death was now a vital component to the illusion and realising that he had difficulty becoming aroused by anything that did not involve killing and eating somebody, he finally sought professional intervention.

This is to Sagawa’s credit; as many other men who go on to sexually offend and kill, do not make any real effort to get help. Rather, they mask it, seldom talking to anybody about their problems, which of course are exacerbated the longer they are stored inside. 

Sagawa first contacted a psychiatrist at the age of fifteen, some years after his sexual fantasises had taken root, but not long after they had begun to vividly incorporate murder. The psychiatrist he spoke with informed him that in order to be of any assistance, Sagawa would need to actually come to his office and talk, rather than hide away on the other end of a telephone. Far too embarrassed to sit face to face with someone and discuss his private yearnings, Sagawa reluctantly closed off this possible avenue of release, but did eventually share his secrets with his brother. The older boy was not impressed, passing it off as Issei trying to pull his leg, and dismissed the disturbing revelations out of hand.

Sagawa’s lack of connection, professional or familial, forced the teenager to retreat even further into his isolated and increasingly violent inner realm. He could not get these thoughts out of his head, and if no one could help him, he certainly could not help himself. Sagawa resigned himself to the convenient and weak alternative of “what will be will be,” and gave up the struggle. One day he knew, he would capture one of the white goddesses who haunted his mind, and subject her to his darkest needs.

The energies Issei Sagawa would pour into his considerable academic accomplishments in no way dampened his lust for flesh, and in 1970 he finally allowed his first foray into a real-life encounter endanger the life of a human being. He stalked a young German woman, found out where she lived and that she sometimes kept a window in her house open on warm evenings. He decided to enter her home, kill her, and enact his cannibalistic dream. Asleep before he entered, the girl was soon wide awake as the decidedly unsubtle assailant clambered into her room. Her screams sent him running.

The next day, Sagawa was back on the phone to another psychiatrist. He needed help, he said, badly. This time he was persuaded to visit his office. Having listened to Sagawa’s story of the night before, the psychiatrist was unsympathetic, pronouncing the young man a public danger and making it clear that he had crossed ethical boundaries with his admission. For some reason, nothing came of the incident and the issue of Sagawa’s intended assault was quietly dropped. As initially recalcitrant about the botched attack as he was, it did not take long for Sagawa’s desires to build to sufficient levels where he actively wanted to do it again.

Whilst keeping his perversions to himself, biding his time until he could try to realise them a second time, he continued to achieve educationally, earning himself an MA degree in Shakespearean literature. Soon he would make a journey he must have known would bring about a head-on collision of his fantasies and the real world.

In 1977, Issei Sagawa switched the venue from Tokyo’s Wako University to the Sorbonne in Paris, which was of course bristling with potential candidates for his affections. He was twenty-eight-years old, intelligent, cultured, and a virgin. His pervasive urge to kill and cannibalize had mutated to such a degree that another attack on his part was imminent.

Suddenly in the presence of all these girls, clad in their short skirts and revealing tops, Sagawa was a man on fire. He had been living in the city for almost two years when a tragedy occurred. In 1979, the beautiful American actress, Jean Seberg committed suicide in her car. Issei Sagawa was amazed that her body was found not only in Paris, but also a short distance from where he resided. Seberg had been one of his earliest infatuations and Sagawa concluded it was fate that she had died so near to him. The papers reported how she had been naked when found, and Sagawa could not control his roller-coasting brain. He dreamed of getting to the actress’ corpse before the police found her and taking her back to his flat, to eat.

Surrounded by all these enticing ladies in their form-fitting attire, Sagawa knew he must act soon. Maybe if he took just one woman, it would be enough to get it out of his system. The prospect comforted him somewhat, as he claims he did not wish to go through life killing people. Thinking that by actually carrying out, from beginning to end, his ultimate fantasy, he might be able to stop short of repeating the crime in future.

His plan involved luring the easiest target he could think of - a prostitute - back to his studio-flat and stabbing her to death. He eventually managed to pick up a pretty blonde but after creeping up on her as she showered, found he could not go through with it. There were several other failed attempts to kill leading up to 1980, when Sagawa decided to go back to Japan for a while. He stayed for four months and then returned to Paris; where he would go on to make poor Renée Hartevelt the object of three decades worth of sickness.

*

Under arrest, Issei Sagawa gave a lengthy confession regarding every aspect of the murder and outrages performed on the young Dutch girl. Police found him to be polite and remorseful - to a degree - though clearly he had killed for no other reason than for sexual pleasure. Sagawa explained how now he had committed this murder he would never have a need to repeat it on somebody else. The demons that had driven him were gone, he claimed, this one disgusting act had vanquished them forever. The police were not so sure. They had found a number of packaged pieces of Renée Hartevelt in Sagawa’s refrigerator and knowing what this man had done, fully intended to put him away. Whether Sagawa was mad, and this meant a secure institution versus jail, was of little consequence to the investigating officers. So long as he was off the streets.

They all noted how fluent Sagawa was. Unlike a lot of criminals brought in, the little Japanese man was quite prepared to talk at length about anything they asked. He certainly did not appear insane, but look at what he had done. Still, this was not a matter for the police to determine - for which they must surely have been grateful - it was the responsibility of a judge and jury to sort out. Their job was done and the wheels of justice were to grind inexorably onward. But in the end, Issei Sagawa was never brought to trial.

Not unexpectedly, it was a mental health issue from the start. One of the first decisions made by Examining Magistrate Louis Bruguiéres, was to board a plane for Japan; his aim, to find out what had gone so terribly wrong in the background of their home-grown cannibal.

Bruguiéres talked with Sagawa’s family, his doctors and the psychiatrist to whom Sagawa had confided details of the attempted assault on the German girl. Despite many hours of conversations, it became clear that there would be no definitive answers to what led Sagawa to behave as he had. Those that were close to, or had the opportunity to interact with the man, could not interpret how he reached this point.

Akira Sagawa, now a wealthy businessman, flew to France and quickly secured a top lawyer to defend his son. It was the first act of unfailing support the entire Sagawa family bestowed upon the troubled Issei, but this would have its price when Sagawa’s mother, Tomi, later had a nervous breakdown.

The world’s press, who had lighted on the story with typical furore, expressed its disbelief at how long the case was taking to get to trial.

Then, in 1982, almost two years after the murder of Renée Hartevelt, Judge Bruguiéres announced that in his opinion, anybody prepared to kill and eat someone could not possibly be mentally sound. In fact, he declared that such an act constituted insanity. Bruguiéres believed that Sagawa had been suffering from advanced “dementia” and ordered him confined indefinitely to the Henri Colin Asylum for the criminally insane. There would be no trial.

Having clamoured for details of anything to do with the internationally recognised case, the press went into overdrive, lambasting the French legal system as much as Bruguiéres’ own decision. How could this heinous killer, who had so ruthlessly dispatched and mangled a beautiful young girl, purely to satiate his own needs, be spared a trial? It beggared belief, and the greater world seemed to agree. News reports maintained it was a classic, albeit inordinately horrific, revenge killing perpetrated by a spurned lover, and despite the gore, the man had self-admittedly cogitated in detail about, then put into practice, the slaughter of Renée Hartevelt. He should stand trial, not quietly be adjudicated insane and be banished to a mental hospital without explanation. Where was public recompense for this killer’s actions? Where were some answers?

Refusing to accept that he was mad at all, Sagawa was utterly dejected with his lot, preferring prison to the asylum in which he found himself housed. He deeply resented having to spend time with patients who were so clearly “deranged.” In an effort to understand himself he made use of quiet periods and penned a quasi-autobiography. Sagawa considered this therapeutic, never thinking anyone would want to read it. He could not have been more mistaken.

Enormous public interest in the mysterious little cannibal led to a visit from celebrated Japanese writer Inihiko Yomota. After several hours of conversation, with Sagawa agreeing to share his memoirs with Yomota, he later learned that he had become a published author; Sagawa was confounded and felt betrayed.

Yomota had taken the ‘book’, edited and titled In the Fog, to his agent, who had been enthusiastic, wasting no time interesting a publisher and getting it into print. Remarkably, it would make the best seller lists in Japan. As a result, Sagawa’s initial hurt at having his personal document funnelled out to the rest of the country without being consulted, was replaced with a quiet pride in his accomplishment. For the first time in his life, people seemed interested in what he had to say.

A Japanese playwright, Juro Kara, had previously used a selection of Sagawa’s writings as part of a novel he had written. With the launch of In the Fog, containing macabre descriptions of the ingested flesh of his victim having “no smell or taste, and melted in my mouth like raw tuna… Finally I was eating a beautiful white woman, and thought nothing was so delicious,” Sagawa was thrust into Japan’s media spotlight. As well as being infamous, he was now becoming famous; a murderous enigma, who with his intelligence could go to greater lengths than most in explaining why he did the unspeakable.

And the world wanted to know. From an obscure foreign student with little or no friends and acquaintances, and a shadowy passion, he would go on to become a cultural icon. Not until the Armin Meiwes saga bulldozed its way across Germany in 2002, would the world pay so much attention to a man because of an act of cannibalism.

In 1985, the popular French magazine, the Paris Match, obtained the gruesome crime-scene photographs of Renée Hartevelt’s dismembered corpse. Shockingly, there were no qualms at publishing them, a tactless and massively insensitive decision that would lead to the arrest of one journalist and the seizure of a quarter of a million copies of the magazine. This, in conjunction with further publicity that Issei Sagawa’s writings engendered, led to the next twist in the case. The French establishment had had enough of their headline-grabbing cannibal and wanted him out.

Shortly thereafter, Issei Sagawa found himself deported back to Japan - amazingly as a free man, his return marked by a veritable media-frenzy. Not only was Sagawa a killer and cannibal, he was now a best-selling author. Celebrity, beckoning for some time, was now ready to be adopted by Sagawa.

So as not to cause outrage by simply turning him loose at the airport, Sagawa was first taken to Matsuzawa hospital. There, voluntarily, he submitted to being placed in a private wing of the institution and examined by doctors. No one made him feel welcome. A phalanx of mental health professionals each found him to be sane, stating that sexual perversion alone had led to the murder - in other words, they thought Issei Sagawa was evil. The man, they unanimously agreed, belonged in prison.

Following an attempt to gain pertinent paper work from Judge Bruguiéres, which was refused, the Japanese legal system could not pursue Sagawa. He walked free on 12 August 1986, having been contained for just five years.

Sagawa the 'celebrity' poses for a magazine photographer.

Sagawa later wrote another book, this time about his days in prison, and interspersed with memories of his childhood. It would never reach the dizzying heights of his ‘autobiography’ but did help further establish him as someone capable of being a writer as well as a murderer. 

He would continue to court publicity, and the media seldom declined to materialize whenever he clicked his fingers. Part of a brazen effort to reinforce popular appeal, photographers were invited to Sagawa’s cramped apartment to take pictures of the maturing artist as he painted nude female models. One magazine featured an interview with him, replete with glossy illustration showing a relaxed Sagawa seated at a dining table gazing at the camera, chopstick in hand, about to partake of some ‘meat.’

The picture appeared on the magazine’s gourmet page. His interviewer asked whether he enjoyed cooking: “Just that one time” came the no doubt rehearsed quip.

When asked to comment on fellow Japanese cannibal, Tsutomu Miyazaki, who had slain and eaten four people, Sagawa expressed his distaste and bafflement at the man’s evident need to repeat his first killing, reiterating how because he had been so sickened by the reality of his own crime, he would never have considered reoffending.

Numerous TV documentaries have been made about Issei Sagawa, and the author has written more books and screenplays, one for a movie about his life. He is now an accomplished artist. He paints self portraits, and for a while maintained a web site catering to those with an interest in cannibalism. It is fair to say he has been a busy man.

Was Sagawa suffering from a mental disorder? Was he really a sexual psychopath? Probably both. By his own admission, Issei Sagawa says that he had to possess a caucasian woman completely, and the only way this overwhelming need could be truly satisfied was by eating her.

Psychological studies indicate there are many that fantasise about rape and murder, fewer over necrophilia and cannibalism, but only a minority actually offend. So what led Sagawa and others like him to cross the line? Sagawa certainly is different from the Ted Bundy’s and Gary Ridgeway’s of the world, those who seem to immerse themselves in murder as soon as they are able. In taking a life, there may have been authentic reservations on Sagawa’s part, so was there some vestige of conscience at work? In most psychopathic murderers, this is either totally absent or significantly flawed, as by definition the psychopath is somebody who does not feel guilt, empathy, or remorse over the terrible acts he commits.

They are also great risk takers and generally are unencumbered by fear of the consequences their actions may bring about. Here Sagawa differs again. He was capable of experiencing trepidation at the idea of killing, yet ultimately the fantasy exploded and he did become a murderer.

Rather than a psychotic suffering from an irresistible impulse to kill, it is more likely that Issei Sagawa was a dangerous sex criminal, one with a florid personality defect, but legally sane. He was certainly sharp enough to dupe the French authorities into thinking him mad.

Sagawa is a sex predator and a murderer. What separates him from a serial killer is the fact that he has not yet struck again. Will that day ever come? Undeniably, Sagawa has the capacity to murder and cannibalise another person, and the deeply-entrenched fantasy that had been with him for thirty years at the time of his arrest, will not have been turned off by way of some mental tap.

So are young women safe from him?

Perhaps self-preservation and his celebrity will curtail him. His high profile will also help keep an eye on his activities, he may not attack again for this basic reason, but it is probable that unhindered and unwatched, Sagawa could very easily lapse again. He says to anyone who will listen that he was “very ill” for many years, but is now adamant he is “cured.”

How and when did this happen? Given the complexities of the human psyche, with eminent psychiatrists still unable to agree, what makes Issei Sagawa’s rather bold assertion incontestable?

He also claims he feels no compulsion to kill again, and the years since his release - some twenty - have thus far proved prophetic, but it is still in him. 

In yet another magazine article, Issei Sagawa told of how he often fantasises about being eaten himself, by a young, attractive western lady. His interpretation is that this is the only thing that can truly save him from what he refers to as the “beast,” dormant inside him.

So beauty must conquer; it seems as trite as that. Then he will be saved.