The Murder of Junko Furuta

Warning, this case discusses sexual assault and torture.

Oh man, this one is terrible. All cases are terrible, but what this young girl went through is something NO ONE should ever go through. I received an email from Katie, she recommended this case, so thank you Katie!

A high school student is killed and tortured in Japan.

Background

Junko Furuta

Junko Furuta was born on January 18, 1971. She lived in Misato, Japan with her parents and her two brothers.

Junko was described as being a very smart, popular and nice person. Junko was different from her classmates, while they were out partying and smoking all the time, Junko had a part time job.

On the day Junko disappeared, she left her job on her bike and it would be in this moment when Junko’s acquaintances decided to kidnap her.

Disappearance

On November 25, 1988, Junko left her job on her bike and was riding home. She rode past some bushes, and a young boy named Shinji Minato, popped out and kicked her off her bike. He then ran away.

Another young boy named Hiroshi Miyano ran up to Junko and helped her up. He asked Junko if it was okay if he walked her home. Junko knew Hiroshi, as they went to the same school. Hiroshi was also very popular, so Junko thought she was in good hands. She wasn’t. Hiroshi’s demeanor soon changed and he forced Junko to go to an abandoned warehouse with him. He told Junko that he was part of the yakuza (Japanese mafia), and if she didn’t comply he would kill her.

Hiroshi Miyano

Hiroshi raped Junko and then took her to a hotel room where he raped her again. While they were at the hotel, Hiroshi called his other friends. He bragged that he finally was with Junko and had raped her. Hiroshi had a crush on Junko, and she declined his advances many times. Hiroshi thought everyone wanted him and became enraged when she politely declined.

At 3am the next morning, Hiroshi took Junko to a park to meet up with Shinji Minato, Jo Ogura and Yashushi Wantanabe. Junko recognized Shinji as the person who kicked her off her bike, and she then realized it had all been a ruse to kidnap her.

While they were at the park, the boys started going through Junko’s belongings. They found her notebook, and they discovered her home address. Hiroshi could now make Junko do anything he wanted. He told her if she didn’t comply he would send the yakuza to kill her family.

The boys took Junko from the park to Hiroshi’s house. They told her to act like one of their girlfriend’s so his parents didn’t suspect anything. Hiroshi’s parents didn’t give too shits. Junko would eventually be held in their home for over a month, and they didn’t even ask questions.

44 Days of Hell

On November 27, Junko’s family called the police to report her missing. The boys started to panic when they heard this, and they forced Junko to call her family to say she was okay, and had gone to a friend’s house. Junko’s parents called off the search.

If you get queasy or sick from even reading anything about true crime, I would stop at the point. This case is going to get way worse.

Junko was repeatedly raped, beaten and starved. She was hung from the ceiling and the boys would take turns punching her. She was forced to lay on the floor, and she had heavy dumbbells dropped on her. Junko was burned repeatedly with cigarettes, lighters and candles. She was forced to eat her feces, urine and cockroaches.

The boys would take turns jumping on her head. At one point her nose was filled up with blood, and she could only breathe through her mouth.

They forced her to masturbate in front of them, they put things in her vagina and her anus. At one point, they lit fireworks inside her. They pierced her nipples and pulled one off.

Junko was so injured that it would take her over an hour to walk from the room she was being kept in to the bathroom. She would pee and poop everywhere, and she couldn’t keep the small amounts of food that she was given down. The boys reacted to this by beating and torturing her some more.

In case this wasn’t humiliating and hurtful enough, they invited two more boys over to rape and torture her. One of these boys had somewhat of a soul (not really though because he still raped her), and he told his brother. The brother told their parents, who then called the police. But, when the police arrived at Hiroshi’s home, his damn parents said there was nothing going on. They asked the police if they wanted to come inside, and they said no. WTF, I HATE EVERYONE IN THIS CASE.

This Poor Girl

In early December, Junko was able to sneak away from these little shits for a hot minute. She found a phone and was able to call the police, but before she could speak Hiroshi found her. She was tortured more as her punishment. They doused her legs with lighter fluid and sodomized her with a glass bottle. This caused her to go into convulsions. Junko would beg the boys to just kill her, but they didn’t.

They would force Junko to sleep outside, and by this point it was December and temperatures would be in the negatives. They forced her to stand in a freezer for periods of time. She was unrecognizable, and she smelled bad.

The boys decided to go out and find another victim. They found a 19 year old girl, who was walking home from her job. They kidnapped her and gang raped her. She was let go, and didn’t report the rape right away.

Junko’s Death

On January 4, 1989, the boys made Junko play a game of mahjong, a tile game, with them. Junko won, and they punished her by kicking and punching her. They dripped hot wax on her eyelids and made her drink her own pee. They also beat her with an iron bar, and wiped her feet with a bamboo stick. Junko started convulsing again.

This torture lasted for two hours. Junko’s old wounds reopened, and the boys didn’t want her to bleed all over the house, so they put plastic on their hands to continue to beat her. Junko was now unresponsive, and the boys thought she was kidding. She wasn’t, Junko had passed away.

It wasn’t until the next day when these monsters realized that she was dead. Hiroshi called his older brother to help dispose of her body. They wrapped her in several blankets and put her in a travel bag. They put her inside a 55 gallon drum, and filled it with wet concrete. They waited for the concrete to dry, and disposed of the drum in a cement truck.

The Truth Comes Out

No one was looking for Junko at this point, her family thought she was safe and at a friend’s house. But three weeks later, that all changed.

On January 23, 1989, Hiroshi Miyano and Jo Ogura were arrested for the rape of the 19 year old girl.

The police brought both boys in for questioning, and they were questioned separately. The police had information about a double murder, that was unrelated to Junko’s case. At this point, the police had no idea Junko was missing or dead. The police implied that Hiroshi had murdered these people, and Hiroshi slipped up. He said yes they had killed Junko Furata and he could tell them where her body was.

The next day, the police found the drum. Junko was so unrecognizable that she had to be identified by her fingerprints.

Arrests and Convictions

Miyano Hiroshi, Jo Ogura, Shinji Minato and Yasushi Watanbe were the four arrested in this case. They were all under 18 at the time of the crime, and at first their identities were hidden, until a Japanese magazine called the Shukan Bunshun leaked their names. The magazine believed their names should be leaked if they were capable of such a horrendous crime, which I agree!

In July 1990, the boys took plea deals. Miyano Hiroshi was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He appealed his conviction, and his sentenced was upheld and three years were added. His family also had to sell their family home to pay Junko’s family for compensation. They paid 50 million yen ($425,000).

Miyano Hiroshi was released from prison in 2013, but went back to prison for fraud. He was released that same year. He is now living under a different name.

Nobuharu Minato was sentenced to four to six years in prison, he appealed and it was raised to five to nine years. In 2018, he was arrested again after attempting to murder a man.

Yasushi Wantanabe was sentenced to three to four years, he appealed and it was raised to five to seven years.

Jo Ogura spent time in a juvenile detention center. He was released in August 1999. After he was released from prison, he got married.

In 2004, he was arrested again after tracking down a man, forcing him into his truck and taking him to a bar his mom owned in Misato. He beat the man for hours because he thought he was having an affair with his wife. He then told the man he’d kill him because he had killed before. He only served 7 years for this crime.

His mom is a piece of shit too. She has reportedly vandalized Junko’s grave, because she thinks Junko destroyed her son’s life. NO BITCH, YOUR SON DESTROYED HIS OWN LIFE WHEN HE TORTURED AND MURDERED THIS POOR GIRL. Sorry y’all, I’m just mad.

THE MONSTERS.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Yep, so that is the horrible story of Junko Furuta. I was actually sick to my stomach reading through all of the research. This girl was literally in hell for 40 DAYS. I hate these boys so much, and I hate all of their parents. How do you not notice something like this is going on in your damn house? I read that Hiroshi’s parents were scared of him. That’s not an excuse though. Junko could have been saved multiple times and she was failed every. single. time.

I feel so bad for her family. They thought she was fine, and she was complying to the demands that these assholes had and told them she was safe. UGH, MY HEART HURTS.

Thank you again to Katie for the case recommendation. If you have any case suggestions, please let me know!

Sources

https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/true-crime/junko-furuta/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Junko_Furuta

If you’re looking for more information about this case, see attached link below:

https://unseenjapan.com/furuta-junko-horrific-murder/