The suspect in the murders of seven people in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, earlier this week told investigators he had "come to hate everything in life and wanted to end it," police sources said Wednesday.

Yasutaka Fujishiro, 47, who owned up to the slayings shortly after they were perpetrated, told police he prepared three butcher knives and used two of them to stab his victims, all of whom were said to be his relatives, the sources said.

One of the knives was found in the minivehicle he crashed following the massacre early Monday morning. A policeman pulled Fujishiro from the car, which caught fire when it impacted a bridge abutment.

Police questioned Fujishiro in a Kobe hospital where he is currently being treated for burns. Earlier reports said the burns were sustained when he crashed his car, but he has since claimed he suffered them when he set his house on fire after the murders.