Stabbing of Girls Bar Employee: Suspect’s Mother Reveals Path to Crime

A meaningful statement before the incident

“While having tea together at home, he once said, ‘People don’t die in the order of their age.’ I wondered why he said such a thing, but since he wasn’t particularly healthy, I thought he might just be worried about me and brushed it off. He was such a kind child.”

This was murmured by the mother of Hiroyuki Chigira (49), who was arrested red-handed by the Atago Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police for attempted murder (later changed to murder) after stabbing Yuna Tanizawa (18), an employee of a girls’ bar in Shinbashi, Minato Ward, Tokyo, multiple times with a fruit knife.

“At around 5:40 a.m. on October 27, an employee of the girls’ bar in Shinbashi called 110, saying, ‘The manager is restraining a customer; please come quickly.’ When police arrived at the scene, they found Tanizawa unconscious with stab wounds to her neck. She was rushed to the hospital, but her death was soon confirmed,” said a national newspaper social affairs reporter.

Tanizawa had over ten stab wounds on her neck, leading police to believe the suspect acted with strong intent to kill. The two, separated by more than 30 years in age, reportedly met through a dating app.

“Chigira admitted during police questioning that ‘I met Tanizawa in June this year through a dating app and started visiting her bar.’ In early October, Tanizawa had filed a complaint with the police, claiming, ‘A man I met on a dating app stole money from me.’ The handle name of the man matched the nickname Chigira used at the bar, prompting the police to carefully investigate the possibility of a financial dispute between the two,” the social affairs reporter explained.

She said she would never get married again.

Hiroyuki Chiaki, the suspect, was born and raised as the only son of a farming family in Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture. A woman living nearby said she couldn’t believe the news when she heard it.

“Hiroyuki was a quiet and gentle child. He must have been raised with care; even though he was a farmer’s son, I never saw him helping with the farm work. I never heard any bad rumors about him. I just can’t connect Hiroyuki with this incident,” she said.

Another woman who lives nearby added, 

“However, after his parents’ health declined, I think he helped with the farm work to make a living. He used to bake sweet potatoes harvested from the fields and sell them at a nearby road station.”

It seems that Chiaki’s outlet was the girls’ bar.

“Chiaki couldn’t drink, but he apparently frequented a girls’ bar in Tokyo. He would park his car at a nearby station and then take the train to Tokyo. It’s unclear what kind of relationship he had with the women there, but it’s reported that he was in contact with several of them,” said the social affairs reporter.

When Chiaki’s mother was asked if he was looking for a romantic partner at the girls’ bar, she responded, “I can’t imagine that.”

“He was once married in his twenties and had children, but eventually, they divorced. He must have gone through a tough time with the divorce and said, ‘I’ll never get married again,'” said Chiaki’s mother.

The night before the incident, Chiaki simply said, “I’m going to Tokyo,” and left the house. Where did his murderous intent toward Tanizawa come from?