Shige Sakakura
Shige Sakakura was a Japanese baby farmer and serial killer who, together with two accomplices, was responsible for the murders of numerous infants in Hioki Wakasa between 1898 and 1913. For her crimes, both she and her accomplices were sentenced to death and hanged in 1915.
Life and crimes
Shige was born in 1868 in the Tsu Domain, the daughter of a mechanic, and as an adult, she married a man belonging to the Sakakura family in Hioki Wakasa. In 1898, she began working as a midwife, accepting illegitimate children for 40-50 yen each, which she then began killing one after another. By May 1913, it was estimated that she and her women accomplices had killed around 200 infants, with her most prolific years being during the Russo-Japanese War, where many Japanese soldiers died during combat, leaving widows. To avoid detection, they would move to different establishments around the prefecture.The downfall of her operation came about when she killed the child of a geisha, who had the habit of visiting her to see her child. When she was not allowed to see it anymore, she became suspicious and contacted the police, who arrested Sakakura and her cohorts. Ten days later, the case was publicized in the newspapers, becoming a national sensation.