Issei Sagawa was born on November 29, 1949 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a student at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, when he committed his crime. He had moved to Paris to study literature and philosophy and became obsessed with Western cultural values.
In May 1981, he traveled to Paris to study French cuisine as well as to visit his sister who was studying there at the time. On June 11th, he met with Renée Hartevelt from the Netherlands who was studying art history there and killed her with a bayonet. He then cooked her remains with vegetables and ate them over several days
Sagawa was convicted of murdering and mutilating his Dutch student Renée Hartevelt. He then ate parts of her body. After his release from prison he became a minor celebrity in Japan and appeared on television to discuss his crime.
Issei Sagawa, who was found guilty of cannibalism in France and served time in a French prison for the crime, has died at the age of 73.Sagawa died of pneumonia on November 24, and his funeral was attended only by relatives, with no public ceremony planned, according to a statement from his younger brother and a friend.
