Yoshitomo Hori
Yoshitomo Hori (né Kim; born April 29, 1975) is a Korean-Japanese serial killer who killed a couple in Hekinan in 1998, and later participated in the murder of Rie Isogai in 2007.[5] In April 1985, shortly after Kim finished the 4th grade, his father, who owed a large amount of debt, sold his dump truck and tools and instead joined a local criminal group, whose leader was his childhood friend.[8] During the summer vacation of his first year in high school, he was approached by one of his brother with an offer to work part-time in the construction industry to pay for a new tennis racket, to which he agreed.[10] Due to the nature of the job, Kim's pants became slightly torn, for which his math teacher would frequently scold him, even resorting to violent physical punishment, which he forbade the teenager from reporting to his parents.[22][23] The baby was expected to be delivered shortly before Kim's 18th birthday,[22] but his wife had to give birth via C-section several months earlier, as she had become ill due to gestational hypertension.[24] During late 1993,[25] Kim began a short affair with a woman named Otsu, three years older than Kou, who abandoned him soon after he told her that he was married and had a child.[24] After both he and Hayama had worked as employees for the company established by his older brothers for some time, Kim's relationship with them began to worsen and he expressed a desire to quit.[30] Not long after, he was also introduced to Hiroshi Sato, a highschool drop-out who had fled from Tokyo to escape trouble concerning bōsōzoku gang members, who had recently been hired by his brother.[32] While his wife believed that this would make him come back to his senses,[34] Kim soon racked up debts, resorting to sleeping at his mistress' house and stealing cash from her wallet.[36] In his desperation, Hori began thinking about gaining money through small crimes, first considering purse snatching before turning towards robbing pachinko parlors.[50] At that time, due to his back pain, his brothers reduced his workload,[51] allowing Hori to frequent the local pachinko parlors, eventually resorting to him borrowing salaries in advance and changing his savings.[72] The man, a 40-year-old jobless vagrant named Kenji Kawagishi, also introduced Hori to two more accomplices: 36-year-old newspaper salesman Tsukasa Kanda, and 29-year-old Yūichirō "Sugiura" Hondō, who was also without a job.[76] On the early morning of August 24, he and Kawagishi broke into a plumber's office in Nagakute, but the former got frightened off and left Hondō behind, who eventually surrendered to police and was sent to prison.[82] On the next day, Isogai's face was wrapped up in packing tape to smother her,[81] but as she was still alive, she was beaten on the head with a hammer while Hori and Kawagishi choked her with a rope.The trio then dumped her body in a forest in Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture,[83] before attempting to withdraw cash using her credit card, only to realize that she had given them the wrong PIN.[86] The trial was scheduled for October 5,[87] but at this time, Hori, paranoid about whether the police were investigating him for his other crimes and afraid that they would prohibit him from contacting his younger son, decided to remain silent on them.[57] Designated as the mastermind in these cases, Hori was convicted and sentence to death by Justice Taro Kageyama, who gave Sato and Hayama life terms as accomplices in the crimes.