Issei Sagawa, also called ‘The Kobe Cannibal’ and ‘Pang’, was a Japanese murderer, necrophile, and cannibal, who became infamous for committing these horrific crimes on Renée Hartevelt. Coming from a wealthy Japanese family, Sagawa developed cannibalistic desires during his first grade in school. A master's degree holder in English Literature from Japan’s Kwansei Gakuin University, Sagawa befriended Hartevelt while pursuing a Ph.D. in literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. He planned to kill and eat Hartevelt and invited her to dinner on the pretext of translating German poetry. He then shot her to death, had sex with her corpse, mutilated her body, and consumed various parts of it. He was caught by the police while attempting to dump her remains. Sagawa was arrested and held for two years awaiting trial, however was later released after being found to be legally insane and unfit to stand trial. He was deported to Japan where he spent 15 months in a Japanese psychiatric hospital and then walked out as a free man due to a legal technicality. The crimes he committed, his release, and his post-release life as a minor celebrity in Japan drew widespread criticism and led to international publicity.