Life sentence demanded for 'panda-head killer' Mainichi Online, July 5, 2004
---Tokyo's "panda-head killer," who is accused of stabbing a female student to death in 2001, should be jailed for life, prosecutors told the Tokyo District Court on Monday.....Yamaguchi approached the 19-year-old from behind in April 2001 with the intention of molesting her. When she turned around, he mistakenly thought she was making fun of him and he flew into a rage, stabbing her in four places, including the back, prosecutors said.
The killing attracted headlines because the killer was wearing a panda-shaped headpiece. Police tracked Yamaguchi down because he had been spotted wearing the panda headpiece almost every day near the murder scene over a one-week period leading up to the incident.