After beheading of nine young people lured by a suspected serial killer after tweeting suicidal thoughts, the suspected, Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer”, has been arrested.
According to Hindustan Times report, Shiraishi reportedly lured his victims–aged between 15 and 26–by trawling social media.
Police apprehended Shiraishi while investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman, who had reportedly tweeted she wanted to take her own life.
“I’m looking for someone to die with me”, she tweeted using the hashtag “suicide recruitment”. Like his other victims, Shiraishi reportedly used social media to draw her in, telling her he could help her commit suicide or even die alongside her.
But Twitter also proved to be his downfall, as police persuaded a young woman to contact him via social media to arrange a meeting, enabling investigators to trap him.
Four days after the bodies were found in Shiraishi’s apartment in a Tokyo suburb last month, Twitter unveiled new rules stating that users “may not promote or encourage suicide or self-harm” but it stopped short of banning tweets expressing a wish to kill oneself.
