They Tortured Her For 44 Days: The Disturbing Case Of Junko Furuta

No case has haunted Japan as much as the murder of Junko Furuta. It was a crime so brutal and cruel that it forced a nation to question the justice system esxpecially when it comes to juvenile offenders. Why are juvenile offenders protected by the law? The law was so disappointing that it protected the perpetrators and not the victim. 

This is a story of 17 year old girl with big dreams getting tortured for 44 days by 4 boys. These 4 boys are just a waste of space; there is a special place in hell for them.

The Girl Who Dreamed of Stardom 

Junko Furuta was born on January 18th, 1971, in Misato, a suburban area northeast of Tokyo. Junko grew up in an ordinary family; by all accounts, she was an exceptional woman. Her teachers and classmates remembered her as a bright and well-liked student who always got good grades, and she was someone who rarely missed school. 

Junko had this dream. She dreamed of becoming an idol. Junko also worked part-time. She was saving money for a graduation trip. She even accepted a job offer at an electronics retailer. She plans to work there after finishing high school. Her life was going according to plan. Her future was bright.

On the evening of November 25th, 1988, Junko left her part-time job and pedaled her bicycle towards home. 

The Perpetrators 

Let's talk about the four teenagers who would destroy Junko Furuta. Hiroshi Miyano, 18, was the ringleader, a high school dropout who had drifted into petty crime and low-level yakuza associations. Jo Ogura was 17, Shinji Minato was 16, and Yasushi Watanabe was 17; together they formed the yakuza gang. They would spend their days stealing cars and snatching purses, dreaming of greater power.

All four of them abandoned their education. Minato's family home was their headquarters, a place where they could gather without any adult interference. Soon, their crimes had escalated from theft to sexual violence. Before kidnapping Junko, they had abducted a 19-year-old woman, and they gang raped her in a hotel; they never faced any consequences. 

The Nightmare Begins 

On November 25, 1988, at approximately 8.30 pm, Miyano and Minato were patrolling the streets on their motorcycles. They were looking for a women to rob and rape, and that's when they spotted Junko cycling home. Miyano saw an opportunity and devised a trap. 

Acting on Miyano's orders, Minato will approach Junko and violently kick her off the bicycle, and he will run into the darkness. Then Miyano will approach Junko, playing the role of a concerned passerby who had witnessed the attack. He even offered to walk her home. Junko was shaken by the whole incident, and she was grateful for this stranger's kindness. She took him up on the offer.

Instead of walking her home, he will guide her to a warehouse, and he will then drop the act, and he will tell her he is a yakuza member. He would even threaten by saying that if she did not comply, he would kill her family and friends, and he knew where they lived. He would take her inside and rape her.

Later, Miyano will call Minato's house to brag about his conquest. They would decide not to let her leave. The next day, Miyano will bring Junko to a park where Ogura, Minato, and Watanabe are waiting. They again threatened her and brought her to Minato's family home. Junko was taken to the second floor, where she will spend the next 44 days. 

A House of Horrors 

In this house, the four boys would then subject Junko to sexual abuse. They would repeatedly rape and even invite other men to rape her. They would daily subject her to physical torture. They would force her to drink large amounts of alcohol, milk, and water till she vomited, they would smoke multiple cigarettes, insert foreign objects, and even burn her repeatedly. 

They even started to beat her with fists, iron exercise balls, and golf clubs. They even hung her from the ceiling and used her as a punching bag. She was forced to eat live cockroaches and drink her own urine.

Junko's parents did report her missing. They then forced her to make a call and forced her to say that she had run away voluntarily, and she is staying with friends. She had to pretend to be Minato's girlfriend whenever his parents were present. His parents knew something was not right, yet they did nothing. 

They did nothing because they admitted later that they were afraid of their son. They were afraid of their 16-year old son, so they did not help the poor girl. They turned a blind eye to all the abuse, and all the physical abuse just started escalating. 

A Desperate Attempt 

Junko tried to run away. When all four were drunk, she tried to crawl downstairs, and she attempted to call the police. Unfortunately, Miyano caught her. He would snatch the phone away from her, and he told the dispatcher that she dialed the wrong number. For this attempte she was punished. She was set on fire, her head was slammed against concrete, and all the beatings intensified. 

From this point on, Junko's condition deteriorated rapidly. She was severely malnourished. She was only fed small amounts of food and eventually just milk. Her face was unrecognizable as it was so swollen due to all the beatings. Her wounds and burns started to emit a foul odor, and this caused the perpetrators to lose all sexual interest in her. They were basically done with her. 

The Final Hours 

On January 4th, Miyano lost all his money in a game of mahjong. This loss will anger him, and he will decide to take out his anger on Junko. She was brutally tortured for two hours, and this ended her life.

Miyano dripped hot candle wax onto her face, and finally, he would pour lighter fluid over Junko's body and set her on fire. She tried to extinguish the flames, but soon she stopped moving. She was just 17 years old.

Later, they wrapped her body in a blanket, stuffed it into a travel bag, and placed the bag inside a 55-gallon metal drum. They filled the drum with wet concrete and drove to a vacant lot on the island of Wakasu in Koto, Tokyo, where they abandoned it.

Discovery 

For nearly 3 months, Junko's body was not discovered. In 1989, Miyano and Ogura would be arrested for the gang rape of the 19-year old woman. During the interrogation, Miyano mistakenly believes that Ogura confessed to Junko's murder. He will decide to cooperate and will take the investigators to the location where Junko's body was abandoned.

The investigators would discover the concrete drum, and they would identify Junko's body through fingerprints, as her face was too damaged to recognize. Now the trial will begin.

Sentencing 

All four perpetrators were tried as juveniles because they were below 20 years old. Their names were protected by journalists who discovered them and published them. The sentencing shocked the whole nation.

• Hiroshi Miyano: Initially sentenced to 17 years, increased to 20 years on appeal
• Jo Ogura: Sentenced to 5–10 years
• Shinji Minato: Sentenced to 5–9 years
• Yasushi Watanabe: Sentenced to 5–7 years