Strange Sight | CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND UNSOLVED CASES

The death of Junko Furuta

[OVERVIEW]

Junko Furuta was a Japanese high school student in the 1980s. She was born on January 18, 1971 in Misato, Saitama, Japan.

Approximately 100 people knew about her abduction and torture but did nothing about it or actively participated in it.

[TORTURE AND DEATH]

Hiroshi Miyano, a known school bully with connections to the Yakuza, had a crush on Furuta but she turned him down since she was not looking for a relationship. With the exception of Furuta, nobody dared to oppose Miyano due to his Yakuza connections.

On 25 November 1988, Miyano and his friend Nobuharu Minato wandered around Misato, with the intention of robbing and raping local women. At 8:30 pm, they spotted Furuta cycling home after she finished her part-time job. Under Miyano's orders, Minato kicked Furuta off her bicycle and immediately fled the scene. Miyano, pretending to be an innocent bystander, approached Furuta and offered to walk her home safely. Gaining her trust, Furuta was unaware that Miyano was leading her to a nearby warehouse, where he revealed his Yakuza connections. Miyano threatened to kill her as he raped her in the warehouse and once again in a nearby hotel. From the hotel, Miyano called Minato and his other friends, Jō Ogura and Yasushi Watanabe, and bragged to them about the rape. Ogura reportedly asked Miyano to keep her, so that they could all have a turn. The group had a history of gang rape, and had recently kidnapped and raped another girl, although she was released afterward.

Around 3:00 am, Miyano took Furuta to a nearby park, where Minato, Ogura, and Watanabe were waiting. They told her that they knew where she lived and that the Yakuza would kill her family if she attempted to escape. She was easily overpowered by the four boys, and taken to a house in the Ayase district of Adachi, where she was gang-raped.

On 27 November, Furuta's parents contacted the police about their daughter's disappearance. In order to forestall the manhunt, the kidnappers coerced her into calling her mother. She was forced to say that 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 into her disappearance. When Minato's parents were around, Furuta was forced to pose as the girlfriend of one of the kidnappers.

They later dropped this pretext when it became clear that the Minatos would not report them to the police. The Minatos stated that they did not intervene because they were aware of Miyano's Yakuza connections and feared retaliation and because their own son was increasingly violent towards them. Minato's brother was also aware of the situation, but also did nothing to prevent it.

Furuta was held captive in the Minato residence for forty days, where she was abused, raped and tortured. They also invited and encouraged their other friends from the Yakuza, to torment Furuta.

According to the boys she was raped over 400 times. She was also starved and they only fed her cockroaches. They hung her from the ceiling and used her as a punching bag. Dropped weights on her stomach. Forced her to drank her own urine. Forced her to masturbate in front of them. They inserted foreign objects into her vagina and anus, including a lit light bulb into her vagina and fireworks. They burned her vagina and clitoris with cigarettes and lighters, and her eyelids with hot wax. They also tore off her left nipple with pliers and pierced her breasts with sewing needles. They also set her on fire multiple times.

Some of the torturers' friends have been officially identified, including Tetsuo Nakamura, and Koichi Ihara, who were charged with rape after their DNA was found on and in the victim's body. Koichi Ihara was allegedly bullied into raping Furuta. After he left the Minato household, he told his brother about the incident. His brother subsequently told their parents, who contacted police. Two police officers were dispatched to the Minato house; however, they were informed that there was no girl inside. The police officers declined an invitation to look around the house, believing the invitation was sufficient proof that there was no girl in the Minato house. Both officers faced considerable backlash from the community. Had they done their due diligence, Furuta's ordeal would have only lasted sixteen days and she may well have recovered from her injuries. The two officers were fired for failing to follow procedure.