Junko Furuta: Murdered After 44 Days of Rape and Torture
Despite making Junko endure “44 days of Hell,” were the four teenage murderers ever brought to justice?
A Popular High School Girl
Junko was a high school student in Saitama, Japan. A beautiful girl with a perfect student record, Junko was very popular in high school. She was described as a kind-hearted girl. After school, she used to work at a local plastics molding factory to save money to attend college.
Due to her looks and popularity, she was very popular with the boys at the high school. Hiroshi Miyano was one such boy at school who had a crush on Junko. He was famous for being associated with the Yakuza — a Japanese organized crime syndicate, which meant he had already committed some crimes despite being a minor. Miyano was known to be a bully who just wanted Junko so he could brag about it. He asked her out one day but was politely refused by Junko Furuta. Miyano didn’t take her rejection well.
The Abduction
On November 25th, 1988, Miyano, with his 16-year-old friend Shinji Minato, who was also a part of the Yakuza, kidnapped Junko when she was returning home from work. Miyano called his other two friends, Jo Ogura and Yasushi Watanabe, to brag about how he had kidnapped Junko. Ogura was the one who suggested that they should keep Junko captive.
Threatened by her captors due to their ties with the Yakuza and fearful for her family’s safety, Junko was forced to comply with her captors’ demands. They made her call her parents to them that she had run away and was safe. This meant that the police and her parents would not come looking after her. Therefore the possibility of a manhunt was diminished.
She was taken to a house owned by Shinji Minato’s parents in Adachi, Tokyo, where she would remain a captor for 44 days.
44 Days of Hell
Junko was forced to pretend to be Shinji Minato’s girlfriend in front of Minato’s parents. However, they knew she was being held as a captor but didn’t inform the authorities because they were afraid of their son’s connection to the Yakuza.
Junko’s time as a captor in that house is described to be ‘hell’ for her. She was mercilessly raped and tortured for days by the four boys. Forced to be naked all the time, Junko was used as an object of attention for the boys’ depravity. The boys used to call over their other friends to treat Junko however they pleased. It was reported that Junko Furuta was raped at least 500 times by over 100 different people.
Disturbing Details
The authorities further released extremely graphics details of Junko’s captivity. She was penetrated with various objects like light bulbs and metal skewers repeatedly. Junko Furuta was also subjected to physical torture routinely.
According to the authorities, her internal organs were so severely damaged that Junko’s body refused to take any food she ate. She used to throw up what little food she was fed. The boys used to force her to sleep outside in sub-zero temperatures. Her body had several burn marks all over.
One of her kidnappers stated that Junko couldn’t pee anymore after day 30 because her internal organs were messed up. She couldn’t stand up anymore and had to crawl to the washroom. She couldn’t even breathe properly because of a blood clot in her nose.
After facing multiple beatings and being burned by her captors one day, Junko Furuta died on January 4th, 1989. Her captors stuffed her mutilated and mangled body into the 55-gallon metal drum and filled it with concrete. They disposed of it off in a cement truck in Koto, Tokyo.
How Were the Murderers Caught?
Almost three weeks after Junko’s death, two of her murderers -Hiroshi Miano and Jo Ogura-were arrested on January 23rd, 1989. They were arrested for the rape of a 19-year-old girl whom they kidnapped in December. Two months later, the police came over to their houses again to question them regarding the mysterious murder of a woman and her 7-year-old boy. However, Miano wasn’t aware of the reason for the police’s arrival at his home. He was convinced that the police knew he had a hand in Junko’s disappearance.
Thinking his friend Jo Ogura had already confessed to the police about the crime, Miano confessed to the crime despite the fact that police didn’t know anything about it. He told them every detail about his and his friends’ involvement in the case. The place where Junko’s body was deposited was also revealed.
The next day police found Junko’s body in the oil drum filled with concrete and identified her with the help of the fingerprints. On April 1st, 1989, all the culprits were arrested.
Prosecution of Junko’s Killers
Due to all of her killers being minors, they were tried in court as juveniles initially. Upon facing backlash from the public, they were eventually tried as adults. Still, their identities were withheld from the public. Some journalists from Shukan Bunshun Magazine dug up their real identities and published them because they believed they didn’t deserve that protection.
Instead of confessing to the murder, all of the murderers pled guilty to causing her bodily harm that resulted in her death.
Miano, who had initiated the plan to kidnap Junko, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. However, when he attempted to appeal, his appeal was denied, and his sentence got extended further three years. His total sentence was of 20 years which was the maximum sentence for a minor.
Shinji Minato was initially given a 4-to-6-year sentence, but the judge extended his sentence to 5 to 9 years after he attempted to appeal. Yasushi Watanabe was sentenced to 3 to 4 years in prison. His sentence got upgraded to 5 to 7 years in prison after a failed attempt at appeal. Jo Ogura was sentenced to only eight years in prison.
Justice Denied?
Shinji Minato’s parents, who did not contact the police despite knowing what was happening in their house, were not charged by the court.
The court’s decision not to grant the murderers a death sentence led to great public outrage. Not only this, the murderers were not even sentenced to life imprisonment for such heinous crimes. The conviction was nothing in comparison to the pain inflicted on the innocent girl.
The brutal murder of Junko Furuta continues to haunt us to date.