Belgium

The Manga Murder (Mangamoord in Dutch) is an unsolved, Belgian murder case possibly involving a serial killer, referred to as the Manga Killer.[1] The name of the case was coined by the Belgian media and has to do with the notes that were found near the victim. The notes carried a sentence in capital letters and in different colours, originating from the manga series, Death Note: "Watashi wa Kira dess", a misspelling of "I am Kira" (私はキラです, Watashi wa Kira desu?). Light Yagami, also known as Kira, is the protagonist of the series. In Death Note, Kira goes on a killing spree assisted by his supernatural note book, trying to cleanse the planet of criminals.

The case got much attention from the Japanese media.

[edit] Case details

On Friday, September 28, 2007, parts of a cut up corpse, the torso and two thighs, were found in the Dudenpark in Forest, Brussels, by two pedestrians who happened to smell the rotting parts. A short while later the two notes referring to the Death Note series were found nearby.

The detectives working the case were unable to identify the victim, because all crucial body parts are missing. What they did conclude was:

* The body was only a day or two old when found, or had been stored in a freezer. Storage in a freezer is plausible because it can explain the surgical precision of the cut.
* The victim is Caucasian, between 20 and 30 years old.
* The location of the victim is very close to the highest point of Brussels, possibly a symbolic location since Kira acts as a god of death in the manga.
* The thighs of the body were shaved, also possibly pointing in the direction of a psychopathic act, or the gay scene.
The detectives mentioned a practical joke by medicine students as one of the possibilities, the academic year had just started and the students have relatively easy access to dead bodies. Still, the police fear that they are dealing with a serial killer. Later, a hypothetical revenge action in the gay scene was brought up.

A public announcement asking for witnesses got a single reaction. A jogger had seen a blond man lying down on the same spot where the victim was found two days later. The next day she saw the man again. The witness thought the man was sleeping and did not pay much attention to it. It is not certain that the man was indeed the victim.

The police established cooperation with the working group Corpus, who are involved in the investigation of the Mons serial killer, because there is a similar modus operandi.
A month after the event, a new article was published in a Belgian newspaper, stating that the detectives still had not achieved any progress in the case. Nobody reported a missing person, body or body parts.

United States

* A senior at the Franklin Military Academy in Richmond, Virginia, was suspended after being caught possessing a replica Death Note notebook with the names of fellow students.

* In South Carolina in 2008, school officials seized a Death Note notebook from a Hartsville Middle School student. District officials link the notebook to the anime/manga. The notebook listed seven students' names. The school plans a disciplinary hearing and have contacted the seven students parents. The principal, Chris Roger, sent letters to all the students parents saying "Regardless of the origin of the book, we take the situation very seriously. The safety of our school family is always our top priority. We treat situations like this the same as if a student called in a bomb threat or brought a weapon to school. While there may not be any serious intent to do anyone harm, we cannot and will not take that chance with our students. We will take all steps necessary to ensure our students' well-being."

* In Gadsden, Alabama, two 12-year-old sixth grade boys were arrested for possessions of Death Notes. It listed names of several staff members and fellow students. According to Etowah County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Lanny Handy, the notebook was found the previous afternoon by a staffer. The students were suspended from the county's schools. The students, their parents, and school officials had met with Handy and a junior probation officer.