Japanese Police arrested a man suspected of assaulting a young pop star he was obsessed with, after allegedly figuring out where she lives by analyzing her social media photos, specifically the reflections in her pupils.
Hibiki Sato, a 26-year-old unemployed man from Saitama, a city north of Tokyo, has been arrested for allegedly attacking Ena Matsuoka, a 21-year-old pop singer with the group Tenshi Tsukinukeni Yomi. It is believed Sato was able to narrow down the area of Tokyo Ms. Matsuoka lived in by going through her social media profiles, enlarging her photos and analyzing the reflections in her pupils. He was thus able to recognize some Tokyo scenery and a bus stop, which he then located using Google Street view. Some sources claim that the alleged stalker had even approximated the storey Matsuoka lived on based on the windows and the angle that sunlight hit her eyes.
Photo: cocoparisienne/Pixabay
Police believe that after pinpointing her location in Tokyo, Hibiki Sato spent a long time stalking his victim and eventually followed her from the bus station all the way to her home, after a concert. He allegedly placed a towel over her head, dragged her into a dark corner, threw her to the ground and molested her. The 21-year-old singer reportedly suffered injuries to her face during the struggle.
According to RT, Sato confessed to the crime on September 17, when he was finally arrested, 16 days after the attack allegedly took place. He admitted to being obsessed with Matsuoka, as well as to analyzing the reflections in her eyes to find out where she lived.
池袋SOUND PEACEさんと渋谷TAKE OFF7さんありがとうございましたーーー🐨
はちゃめちゃたのしかった！来てくれた子お話ししてくれた子みんなありがとう。おかげできょうもアイドルでいられた( •̥ ̫ •̥ )( •̥ ̫ •̥ )#ツキヨミ pic.twitter.com/yETnbKKdIE— 松岡笑南＠天使突抜ニ読ミ (@matsuokaena) September 1, 2019
It’s unclear how popular the use of high-resolution photos is among cyberstalkers, but Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun warned its readers even casual selfies could reveal clues that could help someone identify the location of the photo. It also claimed that doing the V-sign/victory sign, which many Japanese people do in photos, could help someone steal their fingerprints. That one sounds a bit far-fetched… But then again, so does analyzing the reflections in someone’s pupils.
Hibiki Sato was indicted for his crime last week.
