Yukio Yamaji

Yukio Yamaji
Yukio Yamaji
Born	(1983-08-21)August 21, 1983 Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Died	July 28, 2009(2009-07-28) (aged 25) Osaka Detention House, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka, Japan
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	Murder (3 counts)
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	3 (including his mother)
Span of crimes	July 29, 2000 – November 17, 2005
Country	Japan
State(s)	Yamaguchi, Osaka
Date apprehended	December 5, 2005

Yukio Yamaji (山地 悠紀夫, Yamaji Yukio, August 21, 1983 – July 28, 2009) was a Japanese serial killer. He murdered his own mother in 2000, was imprisoned, and then paroled in 2003. In 2005, two years after his release, he raped and then murdered a 27-year-old woman and her 19-year-old sister, for which he was sentenced to death. He was executed in 2009.

Biography

Yamaji was born into a poor family. His father died of cirrhosis in January 1995. After graduating from junior high school, he dropped out and began working at a newspaper store.

Matricide

Yamaji killed his 50-year-old mother with a metal baseball bat in Yamaguchi city, Yamaguchi Prefecture at age 16 on July 29, 2000. He called the police and was arrested on July 31, 2000. He stated that his motives to commit matricide were his mother's silent telephone calls to the woman with whom he had fallen in love and his mother's mounting debt. He was paroled in October 2003.

Double homicide

On November 17, 2005, Yamaji raped and murdered a 27-year-old woman named Asuka Uehara and her 19-year-old sister, Chihiro, with a knife, in Naniwa, Osaka. He then set fire to their apartment and fled. The two victims had never met Yamaji before. He was arrested on December 5, 2005. While in custody, he stated to the Osaka police, "I could not forget the feeling when I killed my mother, and wanted to see human blood."

Sentence

On December 13, 2006, the Osaka District Court sentenced him to death. His defense launched an appeal, but according to his lawyers he retracted it since he was reluctant to pursue leniency. He was executed at the Osaka Detention House alongside Japanese serial killer Hiroshi Maeue on July 28, 2009.

See also

• List of executions in Japan
• List of serial killers by country
• Matricide

External links

• (in Japanese) 山地悠紀夫事件