Hiroshi Maeue

Hiroshi Maeue
Background information
Birth name	Hiroshi Maeue
Also known as	Suicide Website Murderer
Born	August 8, 1968(1968-08-08) Osaka, Japan
Died	July 28, 2009(2009-07-28) (aged 40)
Cause of death	hanging
Killings
Number of victims:	3
Span of killings	February 19, 2005–June 10, 2005
Country	Japan
State(s)	Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
Date apprehended	August 8, 2005

Hiroshi Maeue (前上 博, Maeue Hiroshi^?, August 8, 1968 – July 28, 2009), aka "Suicide Website Murderer", was a Japanese serial killer, who lured his victims via the internet and killed three people in 2005.

Maeue suffered from a paraphilic psychosexual disorder which translated into being unable to achieve sexual release absent of performing an act of strangulation.^[1]

Crimes

Maeue entered the Kanazawa Institute of Technology, where he assaulted and strangled his male friend. He dropped out in 1988. Later, he was arrested for assault after beating and attempting to asphyxiate a male associate in 1995. After settling out of court, he was released but fired. In 2001, he was arrested once more for the attempted asphyxiation of two women, and sentenced to one year in prison, 3 years suspended sentence. Released early for good behavior, he was rearrested for attempting to asphyxiate a junior high school boy, for which he was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months imprisonment.

Suicide website murders

Maeue murdered three people after his release in 2005; he was convicted of killing a 14-year-old boy, a 25-year-old woman, and a 21-year-old man, all of whom were members of an online suicide club. He lured his victims by suggesting they meet and end their lives together by committing suicide via a charcoal burner in a sealed car. After a brief conversation, however, he would strangle them with his bare hands. This brought him sexual pleasure, and he later claimed he developed his desire to kill this way after reading of similar events in a mystery novel as a child. All three of his victims were killed within a span of four months.

Trial and death

In his trial, prosecutors called Maeue a "lust murderer."^[2] On March 28, 2007, the Osaka District Court sentenced him to death. Although his defence team launched an appeal, he accepted the judgment of the court and expressed a willingness to pay for his crimes with his life, retracting his protest on July 5, 2007.

On July 28, 2009, Hiroshi Maeue was hanged in Osaka, along with 25-year-old condemned criminal Yukio Yamaji.

See also

• Erotic asphyxiation
• Internet homicide

References

1. ^ "Suicide website murderer lived out his fantasies". Japan Today. 2005-08-24. http://www.japantoday.com/jp/shukan/294. Retrieved 2008-03-22. 
2. ^ "Man gets death for murdering suicidal trio". The Japan Times. 2007-03-29. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070329a3.html. Retrieved 2008-02-23. 

External links

• Alleged killer linked to suicide site. Japan Times, August 7, 2005.
• 3 die in fake net suicide pacts. The Sydney Morning Herald, August 8, 2005.
• Suicide website murderer lived out his fantasies. Japan Today, August 24, 2005.
• Japanese net suicide pact murderer to hang. The Register, March 28, 2007.
• Death sentence. Shanghai Daily, March 29, 2007.
• Man gets death for murdering suicidal trio. Japan Times, March 29, 2007.
• Japanese serial killer gets death sentence
• (Japanese) Suicide Website Murders

Persondata
Name	Maeue, Hiroshi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 8, 1968
Place of birth	Osaka, Japan
Date of death	July 28, 2009
Place of death