Rie Isogai was a 31-year-old office clerk from Aichi Prefecture, Japan. On the night of 24 August 2007 she was abducted while walking home in the Jiyūgaoka neighborhood of Chikusa, Nagoya, then robbed and killed by three men. The men had become acquainted through an underground online message board, and the case became widely known in Japan as the "Dark Site Murder" (闇サイト殺人), after the Japanese term for such underground websites.
The plot began on 17 August 2007, when Kenji Kawagishi posted a message on a mobile-phone website seeking accomplices for a robbery. Three men answered, and the group met on 21 August to plan. After an unsuccessful attempt to rob an acquaintance and a failed break-in the following night — during which a fourth man who had joined the planning was arrested for trespassing and attempted theft — Kawagishi, Tsukasa Kanda, and Yoshitomo Hori met again on the afternoon of 24 August and agreed to abduct and rob a lone woman and to kill her to avoid detection.
The three drove through Nagoya searching for a victim before forcing Isogai into their van at about 10:00 p.m. They restrained her, threatened her, and obtained her bank-card details, then drove to a parking lot in Aisai. There, one of the men attempted to sexually assault her; the others stopped him, and after she tried to escape the three decided to kill her. Isogai was killed early the next morning, and the men abandoned her body in a wooded area of Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture, before unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw money from her account.
On 25 August 2007, Kawagishi telephoned the police and confessed. Officers recovered Isogai's body and arrested the three men on 26 August, and her mother, Fumiko Isogai, identified her that day. By 5 October 2007 the three had been charged with robbery-murder, kidnapping for profit, unlawful confinement, and abandonment of a corpse, with an additional charge brought against Kawagishi.
Because Japanese sentencing guidelines rarely impose the death penalty in single-victim cases, Fumiko Isogai launched a petition in September 2007 calling for capital punishment; within ten days it had gathered 100,000 signatures. The trial opened at the Nagoya District Court on 25 September 2008. On 18 March 2009 the court sentenced Kanda and Hori to death and Kawagishi to life imprisonment, citing the information he had provided to police.
On appeal, the Nagoya High Court affirmed Kawagishi's life sentence and, on 13 April 2011, reduced Hori's sentence to life imprisonment, finding both men less culpable than Kanda. Kanda withdrew his own appeal, finalizing his death sentence, and was executed by hanging at the Nagoya Detention House on 25 June 2015.
Kenji Kawagishi posts a message on a mobile-phone website seeking accomplices for a robbery.
2007-08-21
The men who answered the message meet in person to plan a robbery.
2007-08-23
A break-in at an office in Nagakute fails, and a fourth participant is arrested for trespassing and attempted theft.
2007-08-24
Rie Isogai is abducted in Nagoya, robbed, and killed.
2007-08-25
Kawagishi telephones police and confesses to the crime.
2007-08-26
Police recover Isogai's body and arrest the three men; her mother identifies her.
2007-09
Fumiko Isogai launches a petition calling for the death penalty for the three men.
2007-10-05
The three men are charged with robbery-murder, kidnapping for profit, unlawful confinement, and abandonment of a corpse.
2007-10-23
Fumiko Isogai submits the petition, with about 150,000 signatures, to the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors' Office.
2008-09-25
The trial opens at the Nagoya District Court.
2009-01-20
Prosecutors demand capital punishment for all three defendants in their closing argument.
2009-03-18
The Nagoya District Court sentences Kanda and Hori to death and Kawagishi to life imprisonment.
2009-04-13
Kanda withdraws his appeal, finalizing his death sentence.
2011-04-13
The Nagoya High Court affirms Kawagishi's life sentence and reduces Hori's death sentence to life imprisonment.
2015-06-25
Kanda is executed by hanging at the Nagoya Detention House.
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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.
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People
Rie Isogai
VICTIM
31-year-old office clerk from Aichi Prefecture who was abducted, robbed, and killed on the night of 24 August 2007 in Nagoya.
Kenji Kawagishi
CONVICTED
Posted the online message seeking accomplices and later telephoned police to confess; sentenced to life imprisonment, which was affirmed on appeal.
Tsukasa Kanda
CONVICTED
Found by the Nagoya District Court to have played the leading role; sentenced to death on 18 March 2009 and executed by hanging on 25 June 2015.
Yoshitomo Hori
CONVICTED
Sentenced to death on 18 March 2009; the Nagoya High Court reduced his sentence to life imprisonment on 13 April 2011. He was separately sentenced to death for a 1998 double murder.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Rie Isogai, a 31-year-old office clerk, was abducted, robbed, and killed near Nagoya, Japan, in 2007 by three men who had met through an underground website, and all three were convicted.
Where did the murder happen?
Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Who was convicted?
Kenji Kawagishi (Posted the online message seeking accomplices and later telephoned police to confess; sentenced to life imprisonment, which was affirmed on appeal.), Tsukasa Kanda (Found by the Nagoya District Court to have played the leading role; sentenced to death on 18 March 2009 and executed by hanging on 25 June 2015.), and Yoshitomo Hori (Sentenced to death on 18 March 2009; the Nagoya High Court reduced his sentence to life imprisonment on 13 April 2011. He was separately sentenced to death for a 1998 double murder.).
