Man suspected of dismembering nine people met victims on Twitter

The man arrested following the discovery of nine dismembered bodies in his apartment told police he became acquainted with the victims through social media, Japanese media reported on Wednesday.
“The suspect, named as 27-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi, told police he lured the victims to his room in Zama City, south-west of Tokyo, before killing and cutting up the bodies.
“Some of them expressed suicidal thoughts on Twitter and he offered to help them die.
“At first, it took me three days to dismember a body but from the second person, I was able to do it within a day,’’ investigative sources quoted Shiraishi as saying.
The local media report said the nine victims were allegedly killed and dismembered within a two-month period after Shiraishi moved into the studio apartment in late August.
Police found the bodies of eight women and one man in cold-storage containers on Monday and Tuesday, as they were conducting a search on suspicion of the man’s involvement in the disappearance of a young woman.
“Some of the body parts had already reduced to bone and around 240 bones were found in his apartment.
“Police suspect the victims include a missing 23-year-old and one couple,’’ the report said.
Shiraishi reportedly told his father around June that his life had no meaning.