Junko Furuta was just 17 when in 1988 she was abducted, raped, tortured, and ultimately murdered by four teenage boys from her school. This case became known as “Concrete-Encased High School Girl Murder Case”, after her body was discovered encased within a concrete drum.
Junko was held captive by two boys for 44 days while they subjected her to horrific rapes and torture before ultimately killing her by dousing her with lighter fluid and setting her ablaze.
What Happened to Junko Furuta?
Junko Furuta was an attractive high school girl known for her good grades and refusal to drink or do drugs. On November 25, 1988 while riding home from part-time work she was attacked by Shinji Minato who knocked her off her bike before fleeing.
Her captors, all members of the yakuza, became furious after she beat them at mahjong and therefore abducted and tortured her for 44 days until her death on January 4, 1989. Their brutality left her injured beyond repair with injuries that made walking impossible as well as total bladder control loss.
Their cruel behavior included forcing hot light bulbs, lit matches, metal rods and bottles into her vagina and anus; inserting skewers and scissors into her genitals; ripping off her left nipple with pliers and dropping iron bars onto her body – acts that would eventually result in her death and leave her family devastated.
Details surrounding her abuse and murder shocked Japan and led to calls for reform of Japan’s juvenile justice system. Her case became known as “concrete-encased high school girl murder case”, becoming one of Japan’s most notorious crimes ever.
What Was Junko Furuta Like?
Junko Furuta was about to graduate high school when she was abducted and brutally tortured until her death – one of Japan’s most shocking and heartbreaking stories in recent history.
On November 25th 1988, she was biking home from her part-time job when a boy approached and kicked her off her bike, before fleeing. Hiroshi Miyano happened to be passing nearby at that moment and “fortuitously” stopped and offered his assistance in picking her back up from the ground.
Once she had dismounted from her bicycle, he led her to an abandoned warehouse where he and his friends began an ordeal of torture and sexual abuse which would last 44 days.
As she was held captive, she was subjected to over 500 sexual assaults from 100 different men, including some members of the Yakuza. Additionally, she was beaten and starved.
Minato and his friends treated her like an animal during her captivity; using weights, needles, sticks, fireworks and cockroaches against her. By the end, her brain had shrunk significantly while she had sustained so much physical harm that she couldn’t even use the bathroom; her nose was filled with blood while infected burns covered her legs and arms – leaving her completely dehydrated.
Why Was Junko Furuta Kidnapped?
Junko Furuta was an ordinary 17-year-old working part time at a baito (part-time job). She did not smoke or consume alcohol and did not use drugs; she was quite beautiful and popular at her high school.
Junko was riding her bicycle home from work when she was approached by Hiroshi Miyano, asking to take her home, which she agreed to do.
Furuta was subjected to barbaric torture from her four captors over 44 days. They subjected her to repeated raped, beat with golf clubs, and hit her face against cement floors – as well as sexual acts performed against her by them.
During her captivity, the boys kept her naked and forced her to dance for them while eating cockroaches and drinking urine from bottles provided to her by them. Furthermore, they used lighter fuel on her legs and feet to set fires, burnt her eyelids with lighters and hot wax and crushed her fingers with lighters before then abandoning her in captivity.
Junko Furuta’s torture was so horrendous that it is considered one of the worst crimes ever perpetrated in Japan – it became known as “concrete-encased high school girl murder case”. Unfortunately, her killers never received justice they deserved; instead they were released with probation instead and this lack of retribution has caused widespread outrage within Japanese society.