Issei Sagawa Suitcase -

When French police arrived, they found Sagawa sitting calmly in his room. He did not resist. In fact, he immediately confessed to everything in graphic detail, even directing them to a refrigerator where more remains were stored. He seemed almost proud, treating his confession as an academic lecture on his own pathology. Sagawa’s trial became an international scandal. His defense lawyers, led by the famous Jacques Vergès, did not argue innocence. Instead, they argued insanity. French court-appointed psychiatrists agreed that Sagawa was legally insane at the time of the crime, describing him as a “man of deranged impulses” suffering from a “cannibalistic delirium.” Under French law, if a person is judged to have been in a state of mental derangement at the time of the crime, they cannot be held criminally responsible.

During the evening, while Hartevelt’s back was turned, Sagawa shot her in the neck with a .22 caliber rifle. What followed was an act of extreme depravity. Over the next several days, Sagawa engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism, consuming parts of Hartevelt’s body. He later described in chilling detail how he prepared and ate her flesh, believing he was absorbing her vitality, beauty, and intelligence. After several days, Sagawa realized the body would begin to decompose beyond recognition. His plan was not to disappear but to dispose of the remains in a remote lake. He purchased a large, dark-colored suitcase. He then methodically dismembered Hartevelt’s body using a small saw and kitchen knife, packing her limbs and torso into the suitcase. Her head was placed in a separate bag. issei sagawa suitcase

In 1983, the French courts ruled that Sagawa was unfit to stand trial and ordered him to be held indefinitely in a psychiatric institution. He was placed in a secure hospital in Paris. When French police arrived, they found Sagawa sitting