Tomoko Mori: Elderly Japanese Woman Hacked To Death By College Girl Who ‘Just Wanted To Kill Someone’

Tomoko Mori had befriended a 19-year-old Tokyo college student and tried to get the young girl to join a religious group, but instead the student reportedly hacked the elderly woman to death, telling police that she “just wanted to kill someone.”

The student, who attends Nagoya University, reportedly hit 77-year-old Tomoko Mori with an axe. When she realized that the elderly woman was still alive, the unnamed student reportedly strangled her with a scarf.

The two reportedly knew each other for some time, with Mori trying to persuade her alleged murderer to join a religious group. But somewhere in their relationship the young girl snapped, deciding to live out her life-long fantasy of murdering someone.

“I have just wanted to kill someone since childhood. It could have been anybody,” the teenager reportedly told police after she was arrested for the murder. The student added that she was annoyed when Mori tried to get her to join the religious group.

Police launched their investigation when Mori’s husband reported her missing in December. They reportedly found the murder weapon in the student’s apartment.

The murder of Tomoko Mori has made headlines across Japan, where the rate of major crimes is very low and murders are exceedingly rare.

The number of crimes has also been decreasing in Japan. In 2002, there were 2.9 million crimes reported there, but by 2012 that number had been more than cut in half, with 1.4 million being reported. The downward trend continued in 2013, with crime rates falling for the 11th straight year and the number of murders and attempted murders reaching its lowest point in nearly 70 years.

The Tomoko Mori murder is not the only shocking murder in Japan. In another case from last year, a 16-year-old student admitted to decapitating her classmate, telling police she “wanted to dissect someone.”

[Image via KYODO]