He Uploaded Revenge Porn, Hid in Her Closet, Then Killed Her
The murder of an 18-year-old high school girl by her stalker ex-boyfriend.
With the rise of social media, people can connect to others all over the world. Using YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, a user can gain a following, have thousands of likes, fans, or friends. Sometimes these “friends” are people from the past, most times they are complete strangers.
The good thing about online friends is that you can unfriend or block them if things don’t work out. Sometimes though, getting blocked or ghosted can cause someone to grow angry and even violent.
This is the story of a girl named Saya Suzuki, who at age 16 friended a stranger on Facebook. They became close and decided to date. They even met up in real life and had a relationship. But, Saya quickly found out, the guy she was in a relationship with was not who he said he was and tried to break it off.
However, he couldn’t accept her decision and when she blocked him he became even more enraged. He decided to upload their private photos and videos, stalk, intimidate, threaten and finally attack and kill Saya in her own home. How did he kill her? Could police have stopped this attack? What happened to the stalker?
First Contact
In October 2011 in Tokyo Japan, Saya Suzuki, an 18-year-old student who was also pursuing a career in acting, came upon a friend request. It was from a 19-year-old man named Charles Thomas Ikenaga, a half-Japanese, half Filipino man who was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan.
Charles told Saya that he was a student at an elite university in Kyoto but was actually working as a truck driver after he finished high school. He also gave her his friend’s cellphone number rather than his own.
Saya was a friendly, outgoing and beautiful girl who had dreams of being an actress. A member of the talent agency who represented Saya told the Japan Times that she had been acting since 5th grade in elementary school, taking acting lessons, and was even in a movie.
As the two started messaging back and forth, they decided they were compatible and started dating in December. Charles also took the night bus from Kyoto to Tokyo to meet with Saya. They dated about 5 months before in 2012, Saya decided to do a study abroad program in the United States.
She really liked the English language and her dream was to study it in America. She decided to break off the relationship before she left Japan.
Saya Returns To Japan
Saya returned from the US in March of 2013. Once she was back in Tokyo, she received many messages from Charles wanting to reconnect and rekindle their relationship. But Saya refused as she was no longer interested in Charles and had moved on.
Despite her many attempts to end their communications, she would get messages like, “Send me a photo of you or I will die,” “If you don’t reply I will upload your nude photos and videos when we were dating,” and as the frustration grew, “I’ll kill you.”
In June 2013, when the harassment didn’t stop, Saya’s father told Charles to stop contacting Saya. Saya also blocked Charles on Facebook and his phone number so he wouldn’t be able to contact her.
Charles’ Revenge
After being blocked and not being able to contact Saya, Charles started planning his revenge. He quit his job and started planning for the murder. Japan Today wrote that in court reports, Charles had created an itemized budget and list to plan the murder of Saya. The list included costs for traveling from Kyoto to Tokyo as well as items to purchase such as rope, knife, and gloves.
Charles also uploaded 67 different photos and videos of Saya that he had from their time dating onto pornography websites. He then took a bus from Kyoto on September 27th and arrived in Tokyo on September 28th. He bought a 15 cm or 6-inch knife near Kichijoji Station in Tokyo.
Starting on October 1st, Charles would wait for Saya at the closest train station near her house or other places she would often visit and follow her home. He would continuously try to talk to her and ask that they get back together. He also messaged her friend to tell her to contact him or she would regret it.
The Crime
After four days of constant stalking from Charles, Saya talked to her teachers and principal at her school for advice. She told them she was scared to walk home as Charles seemed angry and dangerous. The staff at the school called the local police who told them to have Saya call or visit the Mitaka Police Station.
On October 8th at 9 am, Saya and her parents visited the Mitaka Police Station to report Charles and find out how they could get him to stop stalking Saya. Under stalking laws in Japan, at the time the police first had to give an oral warning to stalkers.
If the stalking continued, then the police could give a written warning. The police also asked Saya for copies of emails and texts that Charles sent to help file a criminal complaint. She also supplied the police with Charles’ phone number.
However, Saya did not know that the Charles’ number she had blocked from Charles was not his phone but from the phone that belonged to his friend. No longer in possession of that phone, when the police called Charles, there was no answer.
The police tried two more times and left messages but no one answered and unfortunately, they could not contact Charles. Since he was in Tokyo and had no residence, they could not locate him.
According to NHK, while Saya and her family were out during the day, Charles went to Saya’s home, climbed to the 2nd floor, and entered an unlocked window after 2 pm. He then went down to the first floor and hid in a closet waiting until Saya would come home.
At around 4:30 pm, Saya came home. As she entered, she got a phone call from the police checking on her to make sure she got home safe. Charles was listening to the call from the closet and as soon as she hung up, he sprang out of the closet and attacked Saya with his knife. She tried to escape but and Charles stabbed her in the stomach and slashed her arm before she could make it out the door.
Outside her house, she tried to escape Charles but he caught up to her as she collapsed and stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and stomach, then fled. A witness walking his dog saw Charles flee, saw Saya bleeding out on the street, and called the police.
When the Mitaka Metropolitan Police officers arrived at the scene, they found Saya bleeding badly from the neck and abdomen. She was immediately rushed to the hospital but died two hours later from her wounds.
About an hour and a half after the incident, police found Charles who quickly confessed to the crime and was arrested.
Arrest & Sentencing
According to The Japan Times reporting, when the police first found Charles, he told them that he threw away the knife while fleeing. He also admitted killing Saya saying, “I waited for her near her home with the intent to kill her.” When police found him, he was wearing bloodstained pants and a bag and bloodstained jacket were found close to Saya’s home.
The police also found a cellphone on him with a different number from the one the police had which was actually his friend’s phone. Charles told police he was not aware that they had tried to call him. The friend also later told the police he didn’t pick up the phone because he didn’t recognize the number.
On October 29, 2013, at age 21, Charles was officially charged with murder, carrying an illegal weapon, and illegal entry into Saya’s home.
His trial was held in July 2014 at the Tokyo District Court. He pleaded guilty to murdering her but his defense team argued he should get leniency because he had been raised in a “harsh environment” from the neglect and domestic violence carried out by his mother. The defense asked for 15 years stating his abuse from an early age was a psychological burden on his growth and led him to murder Saya.
The prosecution however asked for a life sentence as they felt the crime was brutal and Charles felt no remorse and refused to apologize to the family. They argued that Charles had planned out the murder, pursued, and repeatedly stabbed Saya in an “extremely cruel” fashion.
Saya’s mother told the court,
“Charles has taken away all her daughter’s future dreams, hopes, and dignity. This should never happen to anyone and he should get the death penalty.”
Judge Masahiko felt Charles, “was angry and held a grudge because he felt pain and thought his existence was completely denied” when Saya rejected and blocked him. Adding, “but the selfish motive leaves little room for sympathy.”
The judge also noted that it was cruel and cowardly for Charles to attack and stab a girl who was fleeing. He found the act of posting images of Saya both before and after the murder disgraceful and repulsive.
On August 1, 2014, Charles was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Both the defense and prosecution appealed the sentence but the Tokyo High Court rejected the appeals and said the decision from the first trial was correct.
Before Saya was murdered and her images and videos were uploaded by Charles, there were no real laws set in place for “revenge porn” but after her case got lots of media attention, things began to change. Many media outlets reported on the story of the murder as well as the leaking of Saya’s images by Charles as retribution for not going out with him.
Revenge pornography started being discussed not only in the media but also as a social issue in the government. On November 19, 2014, the Revenge Porn Prevention Act was enacted which included penalties for those who attempt to release such images or videos.
Charles may have had a troubled childhood and being rebuked by Saya may have pushed him over the edge. Being blocked and ignored by someone with who he used to have a relationship was too much for him to take. But it was no excuse for him to take her private pictures and put them on the Internet and then stalk, attack, and finally kill her in her own home.
If you liked this article, please check out more stories of true crime in Japan:
Sources(English)
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/stalker-hid-in-closet-at-girls-home-before-killing-her
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/stalker-jailed-for-22-years-for-killing-ex-girlfriend
(Japanese)
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/akizo1013/e/895615924970e86e0826533384b64f09
https://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/2013/10/10/0006408081.shtml
https://ストーカー.jp/casefile_item/mitaka (link only available with Japan compatible websites)
