Shigeru Yagi

Shigeru Yagi (Japanese: 八木茂; born 1950) is a Japanese murderer, former hostess club owner and possible serial killer who is the main culprit in the Honjō Insurance Murder Case (Japanese: 本庄保険金殺人事件).

Together with three female employees, he fatally poisoned two men and attempted to kill a third at his establishment in Honjō between 1995 and 1999, all as part of an insurance fraud scheme. There is also speculation that he could possibly have been involved in an earlier poisoning, but he was never charged in that case.

Early life Little is known about Yagi's personal life. Born in 1950, he began running his hostess club sometime in the early 1980s, which proved to be a very successful venture for him. At this establishment, he employed many young women, including his childhood friend Mayumi Take, who accepted his job offer after failing her high school entrance exam. In order to do this, he was aided by three accomplices: then-32-year-old Take, his 38-year-old wife Morita and 34-year-old Filipina Analie Sato Kawamura. However, when he showed no signs of weakening, Sato was fed an anpan containing a lethal dose of monkshood that killed him overnight. In order to get rid of the body, Yagi instructed Kawamura to dispose of it in the Tone River to appear as if the man had drowned. Subsequently, Kawamura was awarded 300 million yen in insurance. A life insurance policy totaling 170 million yen was later paid to Morita following his death. In addition, they were ordered to pay back all the fraudulent insurance money they had acquired, totaling over 100 million yen.

Aftermath As of July 2024, Yagi remains on death row at the Tokyo Detention House and is currently appealing his sentence. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence. His lawyers claim that he was wrongfully convicted, alleging that the three women's confessions were coerced by police and that Sato's cause of death was indeed drowning. All of Yagi's subsequent appeals were denied, and his death sentence was finalized on July 17, 2008.

In the aftermath of the crimes, Yagi's bar was closed down and was later bought by a real estate company that is now using it as a warehouse. His family never spoke out publicly about the case and kept to themselves, with his wife passing away in the early 2010s.