Today in History, May 21, 1936:
“I loved him so much, I wanted him all to myself. But since we were not husband and wife, as long as he lived he could be embraced by other women. I knew that if I killed him no other woman could ever touch him again, so I killed him…..” –
Sada Abe is arrested in Japan for killing her lover, 3 days earlier. At the time of her arrest she was found to have his genitals in her bag. Abe told police that Ishida had been the most considerate lover she’d ever known, and she would know, having been a Geisha and a prostitute among other things.
During their most recent dalliance, they had become enamored with erotic asphyxiation. On the 18th, Abe strangled Ishida to death in his sleep.
She told police that she had severed his member and taken it with her to remember him by, even engaging in necrophilia with it prior to her arrest. She was sentenced to only 6 years in prison by a judge who admitted to being aroused during her trial.
Even that sentence would be commuted in 1940. The story became a cult like sensation in Japan, spawning numerous successful books and movies, and of course making Abe a celebrity. The last sighting of her was in a nunnery in the 1970’s.
Mark Loves History! 