Junko Furuta murder case
The Junko Furuta murder was a criminal case in Japan in 1988 and 1989. Junko Furuta was a Japanese schoolgirl who was the victim of kidnapping , sexual violence and torture . She died on January 4, 1989 from the serious injuries inflicted on her during her forty-four days in detention. The corpse of Furuta, who was seventeen at the time of the crime, was found cast in concrete in a barrel with wheels .
The victim
Junko Furuta was born on January 18, 1971 in Misato , Saitama Prefecture , Japan . She lived with her parents and her two brothers. She attended Yashio Minami School and worked part-time on the side . One of her classmates was Hiroshi Miyano, who would later become the main culprit in her murder case. A possible motive for his later actions is given that Furuta rejected his romantic advances, despite his influence from membership in the Yakuza .
history
The abduction
On the evening of November 25, 1988, Junko Furuta left work and cycled home. Hiroshi Miyano and Shinji Minato discovered the seventeen year old. Hiroshi Miyano ordered his friend Minato to kick Junko Furuta off their bike. After Minato complied with the order, he fled the scene.
Miyano presented himself as a savior and offered to escort Furuta home . Furuta, who accepted the offer, was subsequently the victim of first rapes , initially by Hiroshi Miyano, and later by the other main perpetrators. Following the sexual abuse series, Furuta was taken to a house in Adachi , Tokyo owned by Shinji Minato's parents.
Furuta's parents contacted the police on November 27, 1988 and informed them of their daughter's disappearance.
The kidnappers learned of the start of the police investigation and forced Furuta to telephone her parents to convince them that she had run away and stayed with a friend. She should also advise her parents against further police investigations.
First, Furuta was also forced to impersonate one of the main perpetrators in the presence of Minato's parents. This was later exposed as a lie, but Minato's parents did not contact the authorities for fear of the youth's yakuza connections.
Abuse and Torture While in Detention
During the next forty-four days, Furuta was the victim of serious sexual and physical violence.
Junko Furuta's death
On January 4, 1989, the youths forced Furuta to play a game of mahjong with them . Since Furuta won this game, they punished her for it. The physical abuse that followed mahjong resulted in a wave of convulsive fits. Junko Furuta went into shock and passed away in the hours that followed.
The killers put Furuta's body in a rolling hoop barrel and filled it with cement . They stored the barrel in an empty department store.
The process
On January 23, 1989, Hiroshi Miyano and Jō Ogura were arrested for raping the woman they kidnapped while Furuta was imprisoned. Miyano and Ogura assumed that the investigators had already discovered Furuta's murder and could prove the two, and therefore led them to Furuta's body. Since the perpetrators were minors at the time of the crime , the judge assured them anonymity. The magazine Shūkan Bunshun published the identities of the perpetrators anyway.
In July 1990, Hiroshi Miyano, who was identified as the youth leader, was sentenced to seventeen years' imprisonment, which was shortly increased to twenty years in the maximum security wing. Jō Ogura was sentenced to eight years in juvenile prison . Watanabe and Minato were sentenced to five to nine and five to seven years' imprisonment, respectively.
After his release in August 1999, Jō Ogura was again sentenced to seven years in prison for aggravated assault.
aftermath
Junko Furuta was born on April 2, 1989 buried .
The prison sentences that were imposed on the perpetrators received a lot of media coverage because they were widely perceived as too low. They met with general outrage. The perpetrators' parents were forced to sell their homes and pay approximately $ 600,000 in compensation to the Furuta family.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The Horrific Murder That Tested Japan's Juvenile Criminal Law. In: Unseen Japan. August 8, 2019, Retrieved December 9, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ a b c d e Japanese Horror Story: The Torture of Junko Furuta. February 22, 2013, accessed December 9, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Xtian2121in Japan • 2 Years Ago: 44 Days Of Hell - The murder story of Junko Furuta. February 3, 2018, accessed December 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Chilling Details About The Murder of Junko Furuta AKA The Concrete-Encased High School Girl Murder. Retrieved December 9, 2019 .
- ↑ a b A thread written by @Iethalvanity. Retrieved December 9, 2019 .
- ^ Yumi Wijers-Hasegawa: Man who killed as child back in court . In: The Japan Times Online . July 29, 2004, ISSN 0447-5763 ( japantimes.co.jp [accessed December 9, 2019]).