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Kiyoshi Okubo(大久保
清,Ōkubo Kiyoshi,
January 17, 1935 - January 22, 1976) was an
infamous Japanese serial killer. During only 41 days
between March 31, 1971 and May 10, 1971, he raped and
murdered eight women, ages 16 to 21. He used a pen name,
Tanigawa Ivan (谷川伊凡).
Biography
He was born on Takasaki, Gunma
Prefecture. He was a quarter Russian. His mother, who
was a half Russian half Japanese, doted on him even
after he grew up. He was persecuted by his surroundings
in his childhood after the war between U.S. and Japan
began on December 8, 1941.
He raped one woman on July 12, 1955.
On December 26, 1955, he attempted to rape another woman,
but was unsuccessful. He was arrested, put in jail, and
then released on December 15, 1959. On April 16, 1960,
he attempted to rape another woman, but was again
unsuccessful. The victim, however, withdrew the charge.
On May 5, 1961, he married a woman and had a son and a
daughter. He threaten a man on June 3, 1965, and then
raped 2 women on December 23, 1966 and February 24,
1967. On June 7, 1967, he went into prison.
After his releasement on March 3,
1971, he lured women, had sex with them and killed eight
of them. On March 31, 1971, he murdered the first woman.
On April 6, he murdered the second woman. On April 17,
he murdered the third woman. On April 18, he murdered
the fourth woman. On April 27, he murdered the fifth
woman. On May 3, he murdered the sixth woman. On May 9,
he murdered the seventh woman. On May 10, he murdered
the eighth woman.
On May 13, a 21-year-old woman
disappeared, and her brother traced her. He found Okubo
and the police finally arrested Okubo on May 14. The
district court in maebashi sentenced him to death by
hanging on February 22, 1973. He didn't appeal. He was
executed on January 22, 1976. He was scared of his death
very much, and it was reported that he couldn't stand up
on the day.
Victims
Miyako Tsuda (津田 美也子
Tsuda Miyako) - 17 years old
Mieko Oikawa (老川 美枝子
Oikawa Mieko) - 17 years old
Chieko Ida (伊田 千恵子 Ida
Chieko) - 19 years old
Seiko Kawabata (川端 成子
Kawabata Seiko) - 17 years old
Akemi Sato (佐藤 明美 Sato
Akemi) - 16 years old
Kazuyo Kawaho (川保 和代
Kawaho Kazuyo) - 18 years old
Reiko Takemura (竹村 礼子
Takemura Reiko) - 21 years old
Naoko Takanohashi (鷹嘴 直子
Takanohashi Naoko) - 21 years old
Her name may be pronounced
not Takanohashi but Takahashi.
TV drama
On August 29, 1983, his crime became
TV drama, The crime of Kiyoshi Okubo(大久保清の犯罪,Ōkubo Kiyoshi no
Hanzai). Takeshi Kitano performed the
role as Okubo in the drama. Although Kitano was seen as
a comedian in those days, the audience ratings reached
34.0%, and the bereaved were shaken, because Okubo was
seen as even poor. The drama performed a important role
with Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence in the career
of Kitano.
Kiyoshi Okubo
Twenty-two
years after the execution of
Kodaira Yoshio, japanese police found themselves in pursuit of another
serial lust killer.Less adept than Kodaira at covering his tracks, the new
practitioner was active for barely two months, but within that time he
accosted at least 127 women (some reports say 150 or more), raped more
than a dozen, and murdered eight.His capture, when ¡t carne, owed as much to personal negligence
as to reat detective work.
Born
in january 1935, Okubo Kiyoshi was the third and youngest son in a
family of eight children, on whom both parents lavished affection, and
he was virtually immune to discipline.On one occasion, when a neighbor complained of Okubo knocking
fruit from his persimmon trees, Kiyoshi's mother replied, "You
shouldn't have planted those trees there."
Despite
the coddling at home, Okubo was teased unmercifully at school over his
"Western" appearance-the result of Russian blood in his
mother's family.Resentful of the teasing and entirely undisciplined, Okubo was a
problem student who received poor grades and frequent warnings about his
poor attitude.
A sixth-grade evaluation notes that he "engages in unseemly
acts toward his superiors" and "is showing signs of maturity
too early for his age." The latter complaint was a reference to his
treatment of female classmates, including the incessant muttering of
"words that shouldn't be said" in the company of girls.
In
the summer of 1946, at age 11, Okubo was caught attempting to molest a
neighbor's four-year-old daughter.Those who knew his family were only half joking when they began
to describe Okubo as "little Kodaira" or the "son of
Kodaira," comparing him to Tokyo's notorious rape-slayer.
Nine years later, in july 1955, he raped a 17-year-old high
school student in Maebashi and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but
the jail time was promptly commuted to three years' probation.Arrested for a second rape five months later, he found the judge
less mercifui and wound up serving three years in Matsumoto Prison.
Paroled
at age 25, Okubo adopted the pseudonym of "Watanabe Kyoshi,"
posing as a student while he preyed on college coeds.Married in May 1962, he fathered two children before his next
arrest for rape, in February
1967.
Convicted of attacking two young women,
he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, winning provisional
release on March 2, 1971.Ten days later, he paid Y210,000 for the cream-colored Mazda
sedan that would ultimately lead to his arrest and conviction for
multiple murders.
Okubo's
final rampage began on March 21, and lasted 64 days. Police
were hot on his trail the whole time, furnished with descriptions of his
Mazda and its license number by surviving victims, but Okubo still
managed to claim eight lives before he was captured.
A high school student, 17-year-old Tsuda Miyako, was the first to
die, on March 31.Ten days later, Okubo killed Oikawa Mieko, a 17-year-old
waitress.Ida Chieko, age 19, was murdered on April 17, while another
student, 17~year-old Kawabata Shigeko, died the following day.Yet another 17-year-old student, Sato Akemi, met her death at
Okubo's hands on April 27.Kawabo Kazuyo, an 18-year-old telephone operator, joined the list
on May 3. Six days later, Okubo raped and murdered 21-year-old Takemura
Reiko.His last murder victim, 21-year-old housemaid Takahashi Naoko,
was slain the next day, May 10.
Okubo
displayed no particular ingenuity in disposing of his victims: four were
buried in a vacant lot adjacent to an industrial park near Takasaki
City, and the others were simply discarded at rural dump sites.
Repeated sightings of his Mazda in the Takasaki neighborhood
inevitably led to Okubos arrest on the evening of May 14.A girl was with him in the car when he was cornered by police,
Okubo handing her some money and remarking that "You'd better take
a taxi home."
Initially
held on charges of abduction with intent to commit an immoral act, Okubo
soon confessed his crimes and led police to the graves of several
victims they had not yet discovered.
Tried on eight counts of abduction, murder, and abandonment of
corpses, Okubo told the court, "I became the brute that I am
because of the police.During their investigation of the previous two cases in which I
was involved, they treated me very badly.Their punishment was dealt out in a way that completely destroyed
my humanity.It made me rebel against authority."
Asked
for any final comments on his situation, Okubo went on to say, "If
I could be reborn, I would like to come back as a weed. 1 was told by a
woman I once knew that no matter how much weeds are tread upon, they
snap back.That's the kind of existence 1 would like to have in the next
life."
Convicted
and sentenced to death on February 22, 1973, Okubo spent nearly three
years at Tokyo's Kosuge Detention Center, appealing his sentence.The appeals were rejected, and he was finally hanged on January
23, 1976, slx days after his 41st birthday.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia
of Modern Serial Killers
