In 1981, Renée Hartevelt, a Dutch student in Paris, was shot and killed by her Sorbonne classmate Issei Sagawa, who then mutilated, cannibalized, and committed necrophilia on her body before being arrested attempting to dispose of her remains.
On 11 June 1981, Issei Sagawa, a 32-year-old Japanese literature student at the Sorbonne in Paris, invited his classmate Renée Hartevelt, a 25-year-old Dutch woman, to his apartment at 10 Rue Erlanger under the pretext of a poetry-translation assignment. According to Sagawa's own account, he had planned in advance to kill and eat her, having selected her because of her health and beauty. While Hartevelt sat reading poetry with her back to him, Sagawa shot her in the neck with a rifle.
After the shooting, Sagawa said he fainted and then, upon regaining consciousness, proceeded to rape her corpse. Unable to bite through her skin, he left the apartment to buy a butcher knife and subsequently mutilated and cannibalized parts of her body, including her breasts, face, buttocks, feet, thighs, and neck, consuming some parts raw and others cooked. He photographed her remains at various stages and stored some body parts in his refrigerator. As the unconsumed remains began to decompose, Sagawa attempted to dispose of them by carrying her dismembered body in suitcases to a lake in the Bois de Boulogne park. He was caught in the act and arrested by French police approximately four days after the killing.
Sagawa's family, described as wealthy, retained a lawyer for his defense. He was held for two years awaiting trial. A French judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, ultimately found him legally insane and unfit to stand trial, ordering him held indefinitely in a mental institution rather than convicted of a crime. While detained, Sagawa's account of the killing and its aftermath was published in Japan as a book titled "In the Fog." His growing public notoriety reportedly contributed to French authorities' decision to deport him to Japan, where he was committed to Matsuzawa Hospital in Tokyo.
Japanese psychologists who examined Sagawa at Matsuzawa Hospital unanimously found him sane and concluded that sexual perversion was his sole motive. Because the French criminal case had been closed and the underlying court records were not released to Japanese authorities, Sagawa could not be legally detained or retried in Japan. He checked himself out of the hospital on 12 August 1986 and remained free for the rest of his life. This outcome drew widespread criticism as an apparent failure of cross-border justice.
Following his release, Sagawa became a public figure in Japan, appearing as a guest commentator, writing books about his crime, contributing restaurant reviews to a magazine, and appearing in a film. He died of complications from pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital on 24 November 2022, at age 73, having never been convicted of killing Renée Hartevelt.
Sagawa moves to Paris to pursue a PhD in literature at the Sorbonne.
1981-06-11
Sagawa shoots and kills Renée Hartevelt at his Paris apartment, then mutilates, cannibalizes, and performs necrophilia on her body over several days.
1981-06
Sagawa is arrested by French police while attempting to dispose of Hartevelt's remains at a lake in the Bois de Boulogne park.
1983
After two years in custody awaiting trial, Sagawa is found legally insane and unfit to stand trial by French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, who orders indefinite psychiatric detention.
1986-08-12
Sagawa checks himself out of Matsuzawa Hospital in Tokyo after Japanese psychologists find him sane; he cannot be retried because French court records were not released, and he remains free.
2022-11-24
Sagawa dies of complications from pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital at age 73.
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Titles and descriptions are the creators’ own and may not reflect current legal status; see the dossier above for sourced case facts.
VIDEO
Bailey Sarian / 47 min
He Might Be More Terrifying Than You Think - Issei Sagawa | Mystery & Makeup GRWM| Bailey Sarian
People
Renée Hartevelt
VICTIM
Dutch Sorbonne student killed by Issei Sagawa in Paris in 1981.
Jean-Louis Bruguière
LAW ENFORCEMENT
French judge who presided over the case and ordered Sagawa held indefinitely in a mental institution after finding him legally insane.
Issei Sagawa
ACQUITTED
Found legally insane and unfit to stand trial by a French court for the killing of Renée Hartevelt; never criminally convicted, and later found sane by Japanese psychologists but could not be retried.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
In 1981, Renée Hartevelt, a Dutch student in Paris, was shot and killed by her Sorbonne classmate Issei Sagawa, who then mutilated, cannibalized, and committed necrophilia on her body before being arrested attempting to dispose of her remains.
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