Manga murder
Solved Belgian murder case with Death Note references.
The Manga murder, also called the Mangamoord in Dutch, is a Belgian case that was solved after initially being thought to involve a serial killer dubbed the Manga Killer. Belgian media gave the case its name because of notes left near the victim. These notes had a sentence written in capital letters and multiple colors: "Watashi wa Kira dess" [sic], a mistransliteration of "I am Kira" from the manga *Death Note*. In that series, Light Yagami, known as Kira, is an antihero who uses a supernatural notebook to kill criminals, aiming to create a world of good people. The line is spoken by him as a confession near the story's end. The case drew significant attention from Japanese media.
On Friday, September 28, 2007, two pedestrians in Parc Duden in Forest, Brussels, smelled rotting flesh and found a mutilated corpse consisting of a torso and two thighs. Shortly after, the two *Death Note*-related notes were discovered nearby. Detectives could not identify the victim because many body parts were missing. They determined the body was only one or two days old when found, or had been stored in a freezer—freezer storage could explain the surgical precision of the cuts. The victim was Caucasian, aged 20 to 30. The location was close to Brussels’ highest point, possibly symbolic since Kira acts as a god of death in the manga. The scrotum and thighs had been shaved, which detectives noted as a possible sign of a psychopathic act. They also considered the possibility of a practical joke by medical students, as the academic year had just started and students have easy access to cadavers. Still, police feared a serial killer. A public appeal for witnesses yielded one response: a jogger had seen a blonde man lying on the same spot two days after the body was found, and again the next day, but thought he was sleeping. It is uncertain if this man was the victim. Police cooperated with the Corpus group, which was investigating the Mons serial killer, because the straight, clean cut of the limbs resembled the so-called garbage bag killings in Mons. A month later, a Belgian newspaper reported no progress in the case.
By September 2010, four suspects had been arrested and interrogated; the names of the suspects and victim were withheld. The victim was a missing person who had lived with several suspects.
- Field
- Murder case
- Nationality
- Belgian
- Known for
- Notes referencing Death Note left near the victim
- Victim
- Sidi Larbi Ezzoubairi
- Convicted
- Sidi Mohamed Atir, Abdessamad Azmi, Zacharia Benaissa
Lore & Background
On Friday, September 28, 2007, parts of a mutilated corpse—the torso and two thighs—were found in Parc Duden/Dudenpark in Forest, Brussels, by two pedestrians who noticed the smell of rotting parts. Shortly afterward, two notes referring to the Death Note series were found nearby. The notes carried a sentence in capital letters and in different colors: 'Watashi wa Kira dess' [sic], a mistransliteration of 'I am Kira.' Detectives were unable to identify the victim because many body parts were missing. They concluded the body was only a day or two old when found, or had been stored in a freezer; the victim was Caucasian, between 20 and 30 years old; the location was close to the highest point of Brussels, possibly symbolic since Kira acts as a god of death in the manga; and the scrotum and thighs were shaved, possibly pointing to a psychopathic act. Detectives mentioned a practical joke by medicine students as one possibility, but feared a serial killer. A public announcement received a single reaction: a jogger had seen a blonde man lying on the same spot two days later and again the next day, but thought he was sleeping. Police established cooperation with the group Corpus, involved in the Mons serial killer investigation, due to similar modus operandi—the clean cut of limbs resembled the garbage bag killings in Mons. A month later, a Belgian newspaper reported no progress.
Reader's Guide
The Manga murder case initially sparked fears of a serial killer due to the theatrical notes referencing Death Note, a manga series where the protagonist Kira murders criminals with a supernatural notebook. The case gained international attention, particularly from Japanese media, because of the pop-culture connection. However, by September 2010, four suspects were arrested and interrogated; the victim was identified as Sidi Larbi Ezzoubairi, a missing person who had lived with several suspects. The suspects left the notes because they were fans of Death Note. In June 2013, two suspects—Sidi Mohamed Atir and Abdessamad Azmi—were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. A third, Zacharia Benaissa, was sentenced to 23 years but went on the run after appearing in court for one day; he was arrested in Gabon on May 15, 2016, and transferred to Belgium to serve his sentence in Forest Prison. The case illustrates how media sensationalism can amplify a crime, but the eventual resolution showed it was not the work of a serial killer but a group of fans who used the manga as a macabre signature.
Did You Know?
- One suspect, Zacharia Benaissa, went on the run after appearing in court for one day and was arrested in Gabon on 15 May 2016.
- The case received much attention from the Japanese media.
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