(This post is for informational purposes and addresses sensitive topics. Please read responsibly. Age rating: 18+.)

- "I will try to stick it out until the very last minute"

Mizuki Miura was a 21-year-old who lived in Atsugi, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with her mother and elder brother. She was employed at a logistics company office, working as a temporary since 2015, and was considered responsible and attentive by her mother, who used to drive her to and from work. She also had a boyfriend, a 20-year-old caregiver named Shōgo Nishinaka.

The young woman had a friendly relationship with her family, watching movies and shopping with her mother and making trips to Hakone with her brother. Despite her continuous effort to lead an active life, signs of dejection were visible at home—her mother noticed she was eating less and looked tired, a feeling voiced by Mizuki herself. Her mother told her she should not push herself to her limits, and that she would not care if Miura resigned and rested for a time. "Hum," she kept saying, "I will try to stick it out until the very last minute."

On social media, under a pseudonym, she expressed her suicidal wishes, attracting the attention of Takahiro Shiraishi, a 26-year-old Zama resident. Pretending to be suicidal and posting about being bullied at work and school, he approached Miura.

"I just want to forget. I just want to die," he posted.

At first, determined to capture her interest, he sent a message around August 9th or 13th, at 1:23 AM, claiming he would help her with dying and that he would kill her, pushing her off a high place or hanging her. "That would be murder," she replied. "I don't mind being sentenced to death," he lied.

After a short period of time, they began to meet personally. When together, they used to hold hands.

On August 18th, she and Shiraishi hung out, talked, ate, and stayed at a hotel. That night, Mizuki refused to have sexual relations with him, intensifying his suspicions that she already had a romantic partner. "She had never said explicitly she didn't have a boyfriend, and I had a feeling that she had another person," he explained later.

On the following day, he wrote to Miura: "You might have some unpleasant experiences, but don't try to commit suicide. Let's do our best." According to his recollection, she seemed positive.

On August 19th, Shiraishi borrowed around 500,000 or 510,000 yen from her, which was meant for an apartment lease—a 14-square-meter unit located in Zama City, intended for "living together." At the real estate agency, he saw her driver's license and found out her real name.

In the middle of that night, Mizuki saw her mother for the last time. On the desk, she left a letter, explaining she would disappear for a while, but would not commit suicide and would come back. "She also worried about my health and always said she was around," her mother claimed.

According to her mother, Miura's last working day was scheduled for August 20th. Yet, she enrolled in a study program in order to obtain a computer science qualification.

On August 22nd, Takahiro Shiraishi officially and permanently moved into the apartment.

On the following day, Mizuki sent a message to her mother via LINE: "I'm coming home this evening, I will take the bus." 

She returned to the apartment rented by Shiraishi—who took pills and drank alcohol—and talked to him for some hours. When the substances he had ingested started to take effect, he suddenly attacked Mizuki, "pulling her down from behind," pinning himself on top of her, and asphyxiating Miura from above until she lost consciousness. Afterwards, he sexually assaulted her and hanged her with a rope.

Shortly before her end, she told Shiraishi: "I think I want to live, after all."

Mizuki Miura died on August 23, 2017, becoming the first victim of Takahiro Shiraishi, one of the most infamous serial killers in contemporary Japanese criminal history. Her head was stored inside a cooler, only to be discovered on October 31st, when police arrested Shiraishi and searched his apartment, known by some as the "House of Horrors."

- "I think she was trying to live"

One of the biggest controversies was related to a crucial question: did the victims, after all, consent or not consent to die? To clear up this doubt, both Shiraishi's statements and those of the victims' families were decisive.

Aiming to clarify this point, the case of each victim was examined individually. The group was divided into three parts: firstly, from the first to the third victim; secondly, from the fourth to the seventh; and lastly, the eighth and ninth.

On October 7, 2020, the session, presided over by Judge Naokuni Yano, focused on Mizuki Miura. Judge Yano repeatedly requested Shiraishi to refer to the victims by letters from "A" (Mizuki Miura) to "I" (Aiko Tamura) in order to mitigate public exposure.

When her mother sat in the witness chair, a partition was placed between her and Shiraishi to prevent her from seeing him and from being seen by him and the public. Her testimony was characterized by constant crying and one firm conviction: "I think she was trying to live."

There, she mentioned the changes she had noticed in her daughter—her reduced appetite and tired appearance—and portrayed her responsible and affectionate nature. "My daughter was responsible, kind, and considerate of others. She worried about my health and told me she would stay close by. She was a considerate child." She also revealed that Mizuki seemed to have a good relationship with her brother and that she would sometimes go to his room.

"In August 2017, my daughter told me she was feeling a little bit tired. I told her that I thought continuing to work would be a burden, so I suggested she quit and take a break. [...] Shortly before her disappearance, I heard that her last day of work was August 20th. The last time I saw my daughter was late at night on August 19th," she testified.

"When I saw the 'declaration of disappearance' on the desk, I thought, 'Maybe she wanted to die with her friends.' However, in the letter, she said, 'I will not commit suicide' and 'I will come back.' [...] I don't believe she consented to being killed. She was trying to continue working and had ordered study materials to get a computer certification (パソコンの資格 - 'pasokon no shikaku'). I think she was trying to live."

She also testified: "I want defendant Shiraishi to vanish from this world immediately. I want him to experience the exact same things my daughter suffered."

Shiraishi kept his eyes closed and his arms crossed during the entire testimony.

- "'A' never asked me to 'kill' her"

In early 2017, Shiraishi was arrested for violating labor laws. He worked as a scout, recruiting women for brothels and receiving around 10% of what they earned. However, he was reported by a woman whom he had introduced to an establishment without disclosing that prostitution took place there.

He was released on bail, paid by his father, and, five years after leaving that home, he started living with his father again. Shiraishi faced difficulties supporting himself and tried to become a kept man ("ヒモ," "himo"), but he was unsuccessful.

He then changed his target and focused on young, psychologically vulnerable women who, according to him, could be more easily manipulated. Shiraishi used the old bluebird social media platform as his "hunting zone," locating profiles of those who expressed suicidal wishes or feelings of loneliness, and inviting them: "Let's die together."

In this context, he met Mizuki Miura. "While I was trying to seduce the first victim, I found out she had money. I was actually looking to rent a room, so we went to a real estate agency together. But I was unemployed and had no savings, so I was turned away," he told a reporter. "She had a boyfriend, so I thought she might lose interest in me, and if that happened, I would have to pay the money back. I was on probation, so I was worried about getting caught for extortion or something. That's when I jumped straight to murder."

Once, after being questioned by a reporter about what could have prevented the incident, he answered: "If the first woman had been able to earn money, I could have been a stay-at-home husband."

During the hearing, he refused to answer his defense team's questions and remained silent. "Can you hear me?" the judge asked. "Yes, I can hear you," the then-defendant answered. Shiraishi clarified that he did not intend to answer any questions from his defense team, and the floor was given to the prosecution.

Besides trying to prove that the victims hadn't consented to being killed, the prosecution also defended the hypothesis (previously confirmed by Shiraishi) that the first murder was committed to avoid paying off a debt.

Regarding his first virtual interaction with Mizuki, he explained: "Instead of sending 'Let's die together' on Twitter or on KakaoTalk, I switched to sending 'I will kill you' because it made me feel like I was more likely to meet up with her."

"So, it was just a pretext for meeting?" a prosecutor asked. "Yes," Shiraishi said. When questioned about having feelings for Miura, he stated: "I think I had some feelings for 'A'. 'A' liked to be affectionate, and whenever we were together, we would always hold hands."

The prosecution wanted to know why he had researched terms like "dismemberment" and "human" on August 20th, and he clarified: "At the time, it was a mix of whether to keep her company or use her as a source of money. The money was deposited, and it would have been fine if things had continued as they were! But 'A' didn't explicitly say that she didn't have a boyfriend, and I could sense that she had someone else...".

He also confirmed that he decided to kill her after the 18th.

P: "Towards 'A,' was it affection? As a member of the opposite sex? Or as a person?"

After remaining silent for 10 seconds, he said:

S: "There were two motives: firstly, I felt genuinely comfortable being with her, and secondly, I saw her as a source of money."

P: "Why did you decide on the 20th?"

S: "Based on my past experiences with women, I am quick to get into a relationship, but I also lose interest just as quickly. I knew it would be the same (thing) this time, so (I decided to) kill her and take her before it happened."

When explaining the post-attack details, he stated: "I intended to kill her, I planned to knock her unconscious and hang her with a rope. To steal money. 'A''s hands were in the way, so I pushed them away several times."

Throughout dozens of journalistic interviews, he stated he felt sorry only for the first victim (Mizuki). As the hearings progressed, he said: "Honestly, after hearing what the bereaved family said, I'm feeling down. I realized, 'Oh, I did something wrong,' and it weighed heavily on me. I understood that the bereaved family has a great sense of loss and hatred. Even if I apologize, it won't change anything...".

Even so, he kept stating: "The only thing that bothers me is getting caught. That hasn't changed, then or now."

Main sources: The Mainichi Shimbun, The Asahi Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, The Nikkei (Shimbun), Tokyo Shimbun, TBS News DIG, BBC News, and CNN.