All Episodes

August 8, 2024 15 mins
Season 18 : Killer Kids 

Seito Sakakibara was a 14-year-old boy who committed multiple murders after becoming obsessed with death. He went on to try an emulate the Zodiac Killer, but unlike him, Seito was quickly caught.

For more stories of the worst people on earth, visit our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/thisisMONSTERS

You can check out my other channel Sinister here: https://www.youtube.com/@SomewhereSinister or as a podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/somewhere-sinister
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On June twenty seventh, nineteen ninety seven, the caretaker of
the Tomogayoka Junior High School in Kobe, Japan, arrived in
the morning to start his shift. When he went to
enter the property, he found the severed head of a
young boy stuck on the gate at the front of
the school with a note stuffed in his mouth. The
note taunted police, stating quote, it is a thrill for

(00:22):
me to commit murder. The police began investigating the horrific crime,
and the community would be shocked to learn that the
killer was only fourteen years old. This is monsters Responsible.

(01:00):
Was born on July seventh, nineteen eighty two, in Kobe, Japan,
and lived with his parents, two brothers, and his grandmother.
At the time of his crime, he was fourteen years old,
and due to his age, his identity has never been
officially released, but some articles in the news claimed his
real name was Shinichi ro Azumah. In the note left

(01:20):
at the scene and in letters he would eventually send
to the media, the boy labeled himself as Sato Sukaki Bara.
As a child, he didn't have a strong opinion of himself.
He believed he was dirty and that there was something
wrong with him. His grandmother was the one who nurtured
him the most in an attempt to help improve his
self esteem, but when she died, he spiraled out of control.

(01:44):
He became obsessed with death. He started carrying weapons with
him and wrote in his journal quote, I can ease
my irritation when I'm holding a survival knife or spinning
scissors like a pistol. Like many young psychopaths, Sato's started
catching and killing small animals. He would first catch slugs
and study them, often cutting them open to see their insides.

(02:08):
It's likely that his fascination started with slugs because that's
what he always compared himself to. He said he didn't
have a shell, so he couldn't be a snail. Instead,
he would have to build a shell on the inside
of his body. He moved from slugs to frogs, and
then on to birds and stray cats. That led to
an epidemic of more mutilated animals being discovered in the

(02:32):
area as his obsession with death grew stronger. Eventually, his
feelings about death became sexual, and Sato would pleasure himself
after killing and even pleasured himself at the sight of
his grandmother's grave, though, he continued his deviant behavior and
made him feel even more shameful about himself and his
own disgusting actions. As Sato hit middle school, he said

(02:55):
he started becoming bored of killing small animals and started
fantasizing about how it would feel to murder a human being.
On February tenth, nineteen ninety seven, Sato saw two young
girls walking to school and attacked them with a hammer.
They both survived, but it was reported that one of
them suffered serious injuries. They would later describe the attacker

(03:17):
as wearing a school uniform and carrying a book bag.
From there, people believed that the attacker was a teenager.
On March sixteenth, Sato was in a park when he
saw ten year old Ayaki Yamashida sitting alone, and he
asked her if there was a place he could wash
his hands. She accompanied him to a nearby school, and
after washing his hands, he attacked her from behind as

(03:39):
she was looking the other way. He struck her on
the head with the hammer and fled. She was discovered
soon after and rushed to the hospital. That same day,
Sato used a knife to slash a young girl across
the stomach, but the girl would end up surviving the attack.
That night, in his journal, he wrote, quote, I carried
out sacred to experiments today to confirm how fragile human

(04:02):
beings are. I brought the hammer down when the girl
turned to face me. I think I hit her a
few times, but I was too excited to remember. Twelve
days later, Ayaka died, and after he heard the news,
he wrote, quote, this morning, my mom told me, poor girl.
The girl who was attacked seems to have died. There
is no sign of my being caught. Then he vanked

(04:25):
him made up god he had created and asked the
god to continue to watch over him. On May twenty seven,
the severed head was discovered on the gate of the
Tomogayoka Junior High School. He was found early by the
school caretaker, fortunately before the children arrived that day. It
was determined that the head belonged a ten year old
June Hasse and had been removed somewhere else with a

(04:48):
knife or a saw. The eyes were missing from the
sockets and there were X shaped cut marks carved into them.
Two days prior, June left his house on his way
to his grandfather's house when he ran into Sato. Sato
was friends with his older brother, so he felt comfortable
around the teenager. Sato told June that he had seen
a giant purple turtle and lured him to a secluded area,

(05:11):
where he strangled and dismembered him. Sato hid the body
near a water tank on a hill in an area
called Tank Mountain while he went to his grandfather's house
and retrieved a handsaw. He used that to remove June's
head and left the body near the water tank. Then
he took the head home and carried out what he'd
described as acts worse than murder. You'll have to use

(05:33):
your imagination on that one, as he didn't clarify what
he actually meant. The following day, June was reported missing.
Police were told that the boy had never arrived at
his grandfather's house and also hadn't returned back home. His
head was found at the school the next morning. The
note in his mouth, written in red ink read quote,

(05:53):
this is the beginning of the game. Try to stop
me if you can, you stupid police. I desperately I
want to see people die. It is a thrill for
me to commit murder. A bloody judgment is needed for
my years of great bitterness. There were also some English
words misspelled, reading school killer. It's belief that Sato likely

(06:15):
intended it to say school killer. Investigators said that the
case reminded them of the Zodiac Killer, and it's believed
that Sato was fascinated with that American case. On June sixth,
a local newspaper received a letter from Sato where he
claimed responsibility for the murder of June. The letter was
three pages long, and he explained that his name was

(06:37):
Sato Sakaki Bara by combining the kanji characters for alcohol, devil, rose, saint,
and fight. He also included a little drawing that was
similar to the symbol used by the Zodiac Killer. Part
of the letter read quote, now is the beginning of
the game. I am putting my life at stake for

(06:57):
the sake of this game. If I'm caught, I'll probably
be hanged. Police should be angrier and more tenacious in
pursuing me. It's only when I kill that I am
liberated from the constant hatred that I suffer, and that
I'm able to attain peace. It's only when I give
pain to people that I can ease my own pain.
When the news reported about the letter, they pronounced his

(07:20):
name is Anibara, which led Sato to send another letter saying, quote,
from now on, if you misread my name or spoil
my mood, I will kill three vegetables a week. If
you think I can only kill children, you are greatly mistaken.
Now I know what you're thinking. He's gonna kill vegetables.
Was that a mistranslation from Japanese. No. Apparently, Sato's parents

(07:44):
would encourage him when he played sports by saying, quote,
if you were nervous at your athletic meet, picture the
people around you as vegetables. That caused Sato to start
referring to the people around him as vegetables. It didn't
take authorities long to tract who was responsible for the murder.
Sato's history of killing cats was no secret. Along with

(08:06):
the severed head, he had also left some mutilated cats
at the scene at the school. Since he personally knew June,
investigators quickly put the puzzle pieces together. Sato Sukaki Bara
was arrested on June twenty eighth, nineteen ninety seven. He
made a full confession to the murder of June Hasse
and to the murder of a Yaka Yamashida along with

(08:27):
the other attacks. Due to his young age, he was
referred to as boy A during the court proceedings. The
media quickly claimed that his real name was Shinichiro Ozima,
but that was never confirmed. The principle at Sato's school
didn't believe the teen had actually committed the crimes. His
confession contained details that he said were hard to believe. Also,

(08:50):
the letters were well written, but Sato was a poor
student with bad grades. Of course, that could all be
chopped up to the teen just not performing well at
school because he did not care. When his mother visited
him in jail after the arrest, she asked him directly
if he was guilty, and he said yes. When Sato's
room was searched, authorities found a large quantity of manga

(09:11):
and pornography, so that, along with violent movies, became the
scapegoat in this case. In his room they found his journal,
in which he recounted all of the crimes. They were
also able to use it to compare the handwriting in
the note In the letters to the media, The girl
who survived being slashed across the stomach was able to
identify him. Seto would also end up taking the police

(09:35):
to June's remain, so if there was any questions about
his guilt, he was pretty much erased by that point.
He was also revealed that his mother had been told
by a social worker when Sato was younger that he
was unstable, but she ignored the warning. She actually became
more strict with him, demanding he excelled at school when
he was first enrolled at the age of six. She

(09:56):
knew about his abuse of animals, but chose to look
the other way. At the time of the crime, the
age of criminal responsibility in Japan was sixteen years old.
That meant that a juvenile under that age would not
be held responsible for a crime. Because of that, Sato
was sent to a juvenile reform center instead of receiving
a death sentence like he would have if he had

(10:18):
been at least sixteen years old. Due to the heinousness
of this crime, that age was lowered to fourteen in
two thousand. It has since been debated that the age
needs to be lowered further, since in two thousand and four,
twelve year old Stomi Matare was slashed to death with
a box cutter in an empty classroom by an eleven
year old classmate only known as Girl A. Due to

(10:41):
the severity of that crime, her age was overlooked and
she was sent to a reform school for four years.
She was released in two thousand and eight. In two
thousand and seven, amendments made to the Juvenile Act permitted
family courts to commit children as young as eleven to
juvenile training schools. In nineteen ninety seven, Sato was sent

(11:02):
to a youth reform center in western Tokyo, where he
received mental health treatment and counseling. After a few years,
he was sent to a standard youth program, but it
was ultimately determined that he wasn't ready for that and
was sent back to the psychiatric facility soon after. In
March of two thousand and three, the Parole Board agreed
to release him. The Parole Board stated that they believed

(11:25):
that he had been rehabilitated to a desirable level and
that they believed he could be returned to society. The
chairman of the Parole boards said quote, the board has
interviewed the man on various occasions and closely examined his
correctional state. We came to conclude that the psychiatric care
and the correctional education at the reformatories have obtained good results.

(11:48):
Upon his release, he was provided a location to live
in instructions on how to operate his daily life. That
location was kept secret for his own protection since he
was a minor at the time of His name continued
to be withheld. Sato stated that he regretted his actions
and that he was haunted by the image of himself
strangling as victims. He said that he wanted to do

(12:11):
something to pay the families back for what he had done,
but it seems like that would never actually happen. His
parole was only for one year, and when it was up,
Sato moved away and went into seclusion. His own father
said he wasn't in contact after that, but it wouldn't
stay that way forever. In twenty fifteen, Sato was thrust

(12:31):
back into the spotlight when he published a book called Zecha.
It was an autobiography that detailed the lead up to
his crimes, and specifically the murder of June Hasse. Since
there isn't a law against profiting off your own crime
in Japan, the prophets from the book went directly to Sato,
and despite his prior comment about paying the families back.
He has not given any money to the families of

(12:53):
his victims. He also published a website where he promoted
his book and posted strange pictures that were either drawings
or images photoshopping himself into strange animals. The website was
up for only a year before being taken down. It's
not clear who took it down or if the website
just expired. After the book was released, a tabloid published

(13:16):
his name again and posted his location as being Sitoma
and that he worked in construction. It claimed he was
married and had a child. People say he remained in
the area for at least two years before disappearing again.
He has not been seen or heard of since then.
The human brain doesn't finish fully developing until the mid

(13:37):
to late twenties. The last part of the brain to
do so is the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for
decision making, so it's understandable to not want to punish
juvenile defenders for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, Sato
Sukaki Bara seems to have gotten out and not hurt
anybody else, but it's still hard to not call him

(13:57):
a monster. If you're the victim of domestic abuse, Please
reach out to someone for help. Please talk to your
local shelter or call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at
one eight hundred seven nine nine safe that's one eight
hundred seven nine nine seven two three three, or you
can go to the hotline dot org to chat with
someone online. This website is set up so that at

(14:19):
any time, hitting the escape key twice will take you
to a Google search page. That way, if your abuse
er is nearby, you won't get caught seeking help. If
you're having feelings of harming yourself or someone else, or
even just need someone to talk to, please contact your
local mental health facility call nine one one, or call
the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by simply dialing nine eight
eight in the United States. They're available twenty four hours

(14:42):
a day, seven days a week, and we'll talk to
you about any mental health issue you may be facing.
If you are a member of the LGBTQ plus community
and suffering from discrimination, depression, or are in need of
any support, please contact the lgbt National Hotline at one
eight eight eight eight four three four five s four,
or go to lgbthotline dot org. Thanks so much for

(15:04):
letting me tell you this story. If you enjoyed it,
subscribe on whatever platform you're on it like, rate us,
or leave us a comment. You can check out our
other show, Somewhere Sinister, on YouTube or anywhere you listen
to podcasts. If you'd like to support the show, check
out our merchandise at this ismonsters dot com. The link
is in the description. Thanks again, and be safe
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.