Junko Furuta was born on January 18, 1971, in Misato, Japan. She attended Yashio-Minami High School and lived with her parents and two brothers. Known for her beauty, she was a vogue model and an aspiring doctor. Furuta was a dedicated and hardworking student with high grades and very few absences. Since October 1988, she had been working part-time at a plastic molding factory twice a week to save money for a graduation trip she had planned. On the day of her abduction, she was looking forward to the final episode of a Japanese drama series, “Tonbo.”
On November 25, 1988, Hiroshi Miyano and his friend Nobuharu Minato wandered around Misato with the intention of robbing and raping local women. At around 8:30 PM, they spotted Furuta cycling home after finishing her part-time job. Under Miyano’s orders, Minato kicked Furuta off her bicycle and immediately fled the scene. Miyano, pretending to be a concerned bystander, approached Furuta and offered to walk her home safely. Earlier that day, Miyano had asked Furuta out on a date, but she had politely declined, stating she wanted to study and watch her favorite show.
Miyano, used to getting what he wanted and feared even by his parents due to his ties with the Yakuza mafia, was enraged by Furuta’s rejection. When she accepted his offer to walk her home after the bike incident, Furuta had no idea that Miyano was leading her to a nearby warehouse, where he revealed his Yakuza connections and threatened to kill her. He then raped her in the warehouse and again in a nearby hotel.
From the hotel, Miyano called Minato and his other friends, Jō Ogura and Yasushi Watanabe, bragging about the rape. Ogura suggested keeping her in captivity to allow numerous people to sexually assault her. The group had a history of gang rape and had recently kidnapped and raped another girl who was released afterward.
Furuta was overpowered by the four boys and taken to a house in the Ayase district of Adachi, Japan, where she was gang-raped again. The house, owned by Minato’s parents, soon became their regular torture hangout. On November 27, Furuta’s parents contacted the police about their daughter’s disappearance. The kidnappers coerced Furuta into calling her mother, saying she had run away but was safe and staying with a friend. She was also forced to ask her mother to stop the police investigation.
When Minato’s parents were present, Furuta was forced to pose as Minato’s girlfriend. However, this act was dropped when it became clear that Minato’s parents would not report them to the police. Minato’s parents later stated they didn’t intervene because they were aware of Miyano’s Yakuza connections and feared a similar fate. Minato’s brother was also aware of the situation but did nothing to prevent it.
Furuta was held captive in the Minato residence for 40 days, during which she was abused, raped, and tortured. The group responsible also invited and encouraged their other Yakuza friends to torment Furuta. It was later revealed that over 100 men had participated in the rape and torture.
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According to trial statements, the four boys raped her over 400 times, beat her, starved her, hung her from the ceiling and used her as a “punching bag,” dropped heavy barbells onto her stomach, forced her to eat live cockroaches and drink her urine, and made her masturbate in front of them. They inserted foreign objects into her vagina and anus, including a lit light bulb and fireworks. They burned her vagina and clitoris with cigarettes and lighters and melted her eyelids with hot wax. They also tore off her left nipple with pliers and pierced her breasts with sewing needles. Furuta would often slip into unconsciousness due to the repeated assaults, and the group would dunk her head into a bucket of water to revive her and continue the torture.
When her body was found, Oronamin C bottles were stuck up her anus, and her face was unrecognizable. She was also found to be pregnant despite the severe damage to her uterus.
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Some of the accomplices were officially identified, including Tetsuo Nakamura and Koichi Ihara, who were charged with rape after their DNA was found on and inside the victim’s body. Ihara was allegedly bullied into raping Furuta. After leaving the Minato household, he told his brother about the incident, who subsequently informed their parents. The parents contacted the police, and two officers were dispatched to the Minato house. However, Miyano’s parents informed the officers that there was no girl inside and even invited them in to look around. The officers declined the invitation, believing it to be sufficient proof that there was nothing untoward. Had they searched the house and located Furuta, her ordeal would have lasted only sixteen days, not 44, and she might have recovered from her injuries. The two officers faced much-deserved backlash from the community and were fired for failing to follow procedure.
At the beginning of December, Furuta attempted to call the police. However, she was discovered by Miyano before she could say anything. When the police phoned back, Miyano informed them that the original emergency call was a mistake. As punishment for contacting the authorities, Furuta’s attackers doused her legs and feet in lighter fluid and set them on fire. They also pushed a large bottle into her anus, causing severe bleeding. She reportedly went into convulsions, but her attackers thought she was faking a seizure, so they set her on fire again.
She survived these injuries and continued to be raped and tortured. Furuta is reported to have asked her captors on multiple occasions to “kill her and get it over with,” but they refused. Instead, they forced her to sleep outside on the balcony during winter and locked her in a freezer. One of the kidnappers told the court that her hands and legs were so badly damaged that it took her over an hour to drag herself downstairs to the toilet. Due to the severity of the torture, she eventually lost bladder and bowel control and was beaten for soiling the carpets. She was also unable to drink water or consume food and would vomit after each attempt, resulting in further beatings.
The brutality of the attacks drastically altered Furuta’s appearance. Her face was so swollen that it was difficult to make out her features. Her body was severely crippled, giving off a rotting smell that caused the four boys to lose sexual interest in her. As a result, they kidnapped and gang-raped a 19-year-old woman who, like Furuta, was on her way home from work.
On January 4, 1989, after losing a game of Mahjong, Hiroshi Miyano decided to vent his anger on Furuta. By this point, Furuta was barely alive. Out of frustration, the boys beat her with an iron barbell, kicked and punched her, and placed two short candles on her eyelids, burning them with hot wax. They made her stand and struck her feet with a stick. She fell onto a stereo unit and collapsed into a fit of convulsions. Because she was bleeding profusely and pus was emerging from her infected burns, the boys covered their hands in plastic bags, which they taped at the wrists. They continued to beat her and dropped an iron exercise ball onto her stomach several times. They poured lighter fluid onto her thighs, arms, face, and stomach and once again set her on fire. Furuta made attempts to put out the fire but gradually became unresponsive. The attack reportedly lasted two hours. Furuta eventually succumbed to her wounds and died that day.
Less than twenty-four hours after her death, Nobuharu Minato’s brother called to tell him that Furuta appeared to be dead. Afraid of being penalized for murder, the group wrapped her body in blankets and shoved it into a travel bag. They then put her body in a 208-liter drum and filled it with wet concrete. Around 8:00 PM, they loaded the drum and eventually disposed of it in a cement truck in Tokyo.
On January 23, 1989, Hiroshi Miyano and Jō Ogura were arrested for another crime, the gang-rape of the 19-year-old woman they had kidnapped in December. On March 29, two police officers came to interrogate them, as an unknown woman’s underwear had been found at their addresses. During the interrogation, Miyano accidentally thought the police were talking about Junko Furuta. Believing that Jō Ogura had confessed to the crimes against Furuta, Miyano told the police where to find Furuta’s body. The police were initially puzzled by the confession, as they had been referring to the murder of a different woman and her seven-year-old son that had occurred nine days prior to Furuta’s abduction. That case remains unsolved to this day.
The police found the drum containing Furuta’s body the following day. She was identified via fingerprints. On April 1, 1989, Jō Ogura was arrested for a separate sexual assault and subsequently re-arrested for Furuta’s murder. The arrest of Yasushi Watanabe, Nobuharu Minato, and Minato’s brother followed.
During sentencing, the judge commented that “exceptionally grave and atrocious violence” had been inflicted upon the victim, and that Junko Furuta had been “murdered so brutally at the young age of 17, her soul must be wandering in torment.” As the ringleader of the crime, Miyano was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Minato received a five to seven-year