Kaoru Kobayashi (小林 薫, Kobayashi Kaoru, November 30, 1968 – February 21, 2013) was a Japanese newspaper deliveryman who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 7-year-old Kaede Ariyama (有山 楓, Ariyama Kaede) in Nara, Nara Prefecture, on November 17, 2004.
[1] 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.
[3] 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.
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.
[4] 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.
[7] During a search of his room, the police discovered Ariyama's cellular phone and randoseru, a video and a magazine containing child pornography, and a considerable amount of girls' underwear which Kobayashi had stolen between June and December 2004.
On November 17, 2004, the day of the kidnapping, a judge had issued an arrest warrant for Kobayashi for the embezzlement reported by the manager.
"[19] Miyazaki was subsequently executed on June 17, 2008, after making this comment, possibly due to the significance of Kobayashi's case and another recent incident, the Akihabara massacre.
Kobayashi's psychiatrist diagnosed him as suffering from antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia, but sane enough to be responsible for his actions, believing he might have even been gnawed by a sense of guilt.
[21] Kobayashi's new lawyer claimed in June 2007 that the withdrawal was invalid, which the Nara district court declined on April 21, 2008.