Nagano Quadruple Murder Sentencing: “This is a Virtual Space”…Delusion?　The last words of the defendant who kept silent.

FRIDAY Digital will select from among the many cases reported by FRIDAY Digital in 2025, and bring you the “Violent & Serious Cases in 2025”. This time, we will focus on the “Nagano quadruple murder case and verdict. FRIDAY has been covering this horrific case since its inception, and we will introduce the entire story, including new details, in our October 16th edition.

A woman was screaming “Help! while screaming “Help!

On October 14, 2013, Masanori Aoki, then 34, was sentenced to death at the Nagano District Court. The defendant, who stood on the witness stand, was said to have been listening to it while shaking his body.

The incident occurred on May 25, 2011, in Nakano City, Nagano Prefecture. Aoki killed two female residents who were taking a walk with a knife. He also killed two police officers who rushed to the scene of the incident, using a knife and a hunting rifle, and held his mother and aunt hostage in his house for about 12 hours. Aoki was taken into custody early the next morning on the 26th.

The jury trial began on September 25, 1950. The defense argued that Aoki was delirious and had symptoms of delusion at the time of the incident. The prosecution countered with the defense that Aoki had the capacity to commit the crime, saying that his delusions had no influence on the crime. In its ruling, the Nagano District Court accepted the prosecution’s argument.

FRIDAY” had been covering the case since its inception. The following is a review of the entire gruesome crime and Aoki’s reputation as described by those around him (quotations in parentheses are from past articles, and the wording has been left as it was at the time).

A woman screamed, “Help! A woman came running toward me, screaming, ‘Help! The man who came after her stabbed her in the back with a large knife. Probably twice. The man stabbed the woman a third time in the chest, and then leisurely left toward his home. He was wearing camouflage clothing, a black mask, and sunglasses,” said a witness to the incident.

The witness testified that Aoki was the “man who chased him. Aoki was born to a father who was a city councilor and a mother who ran a gelato store and held flower art classes. Unlike his parents, who were sociable, Aoki was very introverted.

I never saw him hanging out with his friends. I got the impression that she didn’t mind being out of place. She always seemed to like to be alone.

He ignored seven or eight of the ten times I approached him.”

After graduating from a prestigious public high school in the neighborhood, Aoki wasted one year to get into a medium-sized private university and moved to Tokyo. However, as one of his classmates said, he probably did not feel at ease with his surroundings. When Aoki began to complain that he was being bugged and that he was being called a “loner,” his parents rushed to take him back to his parents’ house.

Aoki was sometimes described by those around him as “a quiet but considerate boy,” but he changed around the time he dropped out of college. This did not change even after he returned to his hometown.

When he worked in an orchard in a neighboring town, he was very quiet. Even if I greeted them once in a while, it was never a conversation. Sometimes we would work in groups, but even then he would just stand there by himself instead of working with us. Sometimes the people who did the work were taken aback.

It seems that the only person Aoki took seriously was his dog.

“When I came home from work (at the orchard), I saw him riding his bicycle at a high rate of speed around 7 pm. He had a white medium-sized dog with him, but I got the impression that he was dragging the dog rather than taking a walk. I think he was dealing with the dog because he didn’t hang out with people. I once saw him riding his bike and letting his dog run around,” said another neighbor.

At his father’s suggestion, he also joined a local festival preservation group, but that did not change. A man who had taught the defendant to play the flute at this association said the following.

“His father asked me, ‘Will you let him in,’ and I welcomed him. I don’t think it was his intention, but I think he wanted him to fit in with the local community as the eldest son. He would attend drinking parties and take flute practice seriously. I thought he was a good farmer, too. But anyway, he was so quiet that I didn’t know what he was thinking.

After three years in this preservation group, he began to take frequent breaks and quit. Then, for some reason, he became hypersensitive to the word “blah, blah, blah. As for his motive for killing the two women in the incident, he said at the time of the incident, “I thought they were making fun of me, calling me ‘loneliness.

I was persecuted by beings from another dimension.”

During the trial, Aoki remained silent throughout. He never spoke about the incident. He said “I will remain silent” more than 90 times.

The only time he spoke up was after closing arguments when the presiding judge asked him , “Do you have anything you want to say? He said in a small voice: “I’m sorry, I don’t know. In a low voice, he said, “I have been persecuted by an interdimensional being.

I came here to be persecuted by beings from another dimension, to kill people, and to be put to death. I will never play again. Those who have been harmed will have to make it up to me. I am sorry for hurting the people inside (the survivors and others who were in the courtroom). This is a virtual space for me, so I have to use the word play.”

According to the defense attorney, Aoki had wished to remain silent on the day of the trial and had not planned to speak. He said of his intention to speak , “I guess he was struggling with how to make up the gap between reality and his delusion (as he was told in court).”

The defense appealed the death sentence to the Tokyo High Court on October 27, 2013. The defense commented, “We appealed on the grounds that the defendant had a broken heart. The defense attorney persuaded Aoki, who had said immediately after the verdict that he did not want to appeal.

On the same day, the families of the two deceased women also commented on the appeal. In it, they said, “Even though an appeal is a right recognized by law, we feel nothing but frustration. When I think of the four people who died, I feel strong resentment at the decision to appeal. I strongly hope that the appeals court will uphold this decision and sentence them to death once again.

The appeals court will be the focus of attention.