Kaoru Kobayashi

was a Japanese newspaper deliveryman who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 7-year-old in Nara, Nara Prefecture, on November 17, 2004. Kobayashi, an ex-convict and pedophile with a record as a prolific sex offender, was sentenced to death for the murder of Ariyama and was executed by hanging at Osaka Detention House on February 21, 2013. Ariyama's murder caused a surge in the moral panic against otaku culture in Japan. Early life Kaoru Kobayashi was born on November 30, 1968, in the Sumiyoshi-ku ward of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture. He worked as a paperboy since his childhood as his family was poor, and his mother died in 1978. In 1989, Kobayashi was convicted of sexually assaulting eight children, receiving a suspended sentence of two years imprisonment. In October 1991, Kobayashi attempted to kill a five-year-old girl and was sentenced to three years in prison, for which he was paroled on November 9, 1995, and officially released on July 23, 1996. Kobayashi had worked at a newsstand for The Asahi Shimbun in Tomio, a neighborhood in the west-side of Nara, Nara Prefecture, between March and July 2000. At the time of the murder, he was employed as a newspaper deliveryman for the Mainichi Shimbun in the Ikoma District of Nara Prefecture, adjacent to Tomio. Kidnapping and murder On November 17, 2004, Kobayashi kidnapped seven-year-old Kaede Ariyama at random while she travelled from Tomio North Elementary School to her home, near the west-side police station in Tomio. Using Ariyama's cellular phone, Kobayashi sent a photograph of the girl to her mother with the message: "I've got your daughter". Kobayashi then murdered Ariyama and dumped her body in the town of Heguri in the Ikoma District of Nara Prefecture, which was found that night. The autopsy revealed the cause of Ariyama's death to be drowning; the water collected in her lungs was not dirty, so it was assumed that she had been drowned in a sink or bathtub. Several of her teeth were missing and abrasions were found on her hands and feet, which were assumed to have been done by Kobayashi after her death. It also appeared that Kobayashi had undressed Ariyama before murdering her and then re-dressed her afterwards.