Suitcase — Issei Sagawa

In the early 1980s, a small, unassuming suitcase became the center of one of the most bizarre and horrifying true crime cases of the 20th century. Inside that suitcase was the dismembered remains of a young Dutch woman. And the man who carried it through the streets of Paris was Issei Sagawa—a man whose name would become synonymous with a crime so grotesque that it continues to fascinate and repel the world decades later. The Crime: From Fantasy to Reality Issei Sagawa was a Japanese national, the son of a wealthy and respected family. He was a brilliant but deeply troubled student, studying literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. For years, Sagawa had harbored a secret, cannibalistic fetish, specifically focused on tall, blonde, Western women. He saw them as the ultimate object of his obsession—powerful, beautiful, and, in his disturbed mind, something to be consumed.

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. In the early 1980s, a small, unassuming 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. The Crime: From Fantasy to Reality Issei Sagawa

What followed was perhaps the most disturbing chapter of all. Sagawa became a minor celebrity in Japan. He wrote several books, including a novel titled In the Fog (which fictionalizes the murder) and a memoir, Konnichiwa, Watashi wa Issei Desu (“Hello, I’m Issei”). He contributed restaurant reviews, appeared on talk shows, gave interviews, and even served as a commentator on crime analysis. He was both reviled and morbidly celebrated—a “real-life Hannibal Lecter” who walked the streets of Tokyo.

He lived off his family’s money and his writing royalties until his death from pneumonia on November 24, 2022, at the age of 73. To the end, he showed no remorse, famously stating in an interview: “My crime was an expression of love. I wanted to make her a part of me.” The image of that dark suitcase in the Bois de Boulogne remains a powerful, horrifying symbol. It represents not just the physical act of dismemberment, but the failure of two legal systems to deliver justice. It also represents the uneasy, voyeuristic fascination society has with extreme evil. For the family of Renée Hartevelt, the suitcase—and the man who packed it—was a lifelong nightmare. For the rest of the world, the story of Issei Sagawa is a dark reminder that sometimes, horror is not a fictional monster, but a quiet, small man dragging a heavy suitcase through the evening streets of a beautiful city.