Professor sentenced to 10-12 years in prison for torturing colleague over unreciprocated romantic feelings

GREENFIELD, Mass. — A college professor tortured a colleague with a rock, fire poker and pruning shears in 2019 over love that was not reciprocated. Now the woman who taught at a private New England liberal arts college was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison over the attack.

Rie Hachiyanagi, 50, was a professor at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, when the spiteful crime was committed. She changed her pleas last Friday to guilty on nine charges stemming from a Dec. 23, 2019 attack that left her colleague with permanent injuries, assistant Northwestern District Attorney Matthew Thomas announced in a press statement, a portion of which is included below:

In court, Thomas explained that Hachiyanagi, 50, knocked on the door of the victim’s home, claiming to be in need of emotional support over a breakup. When the homeowner let her in, Hachiyanagi attacked her, bludgeoning  her with a rock, a fire poker and pruning shears, all the while taunting her in a four-hour torture session until the victim finally managed to convince Hachiyanagi to summon help.  The attack left the victim with long-lasting emotional trauma and severe physical trauma, some of which is permanent.

Lauret Savoy, the victim of the attack, addressed the court in an emotional statement detailing the extent of her injuries and the pain and terror she experienced that night, with impacts on all areas of her life that continue into today.

“I’ve struggled to find a word that could hold in its meaning both the attack and my experience of it.  The closest I found is this: ‘severe or excruciating pain or suffering (of body or mind); anguish, agony, torment; the infliction of such.’ This is a definition of torture.  For four hours I experienced literal torture of body and of mind, not knowing if I would survive the next minute—yet needing to find some way to save my life,” she said. “The emotional, physical, financial, and professional impacts of this crime have been huge and they continue.  Now the defendant’s violation of me is becoming part of a public persona that I did not choose.  She has invaded my privacy, my career, my life.” 

During a hearing earlier in the week, Franklin County Superior Court Judge Francis Flannery said he took several days to mull over the charging decision in what he described as an extremely “troubling case,” adding, “This is one of the most horrific set of facts I have ever heard,” the Greenfield Recorder reported.

Savoy is a professor of environmental studies and geology at Mount Holyoke College. At the time of the crime, Hachiyanagi was an art professor specializing in installation, performance and papermaking, according to Fox News.

Prosecutors described how the defendant confessed to having loved Savoy and grew angry that Savoy should have known. At one point, Hachiyanagi straddled her colleague on the floor, taunting her about her severe injuries, which included broken bones, facial fractures, several stab and puncture wounds, and significant blood loss. She declared that Savoy would probably die.

Hachiyanagi reportedly believed she would likely get away with the attack, until Savoy finally convinced her to dial 911, lying that she reciprocated romantic feelings for Hachiyanagi, the Recorder reported.