Intro Topics & Murder of Junko Furuta #41

Furuta was born in Misato, Saitama Prefecture. She lived with her parents, her elder brother, and her younger brother.As a teenager, she attended Yashio-Minami High School and worked part-time at a plastic molding factory during after-school hours since October 1988. She did this to save up money for a graduation plan she had arranged. Furuta also accepted a job at an electronics retailer, where she planned on working after graduation. At high school, Furuta was well-liked by her classmates, with high grades and very infrequent absences.

The perpetrators were four teenage boys: Hiroshi Miyano (宮野裕史, Miyano Hiroshi, 18 years old), Jō Ogura (小倉譲, Ogura Jō, 17), Shinji Minato (湊伸治, Minato Shinji, 16), and Yasushi Watanabe (渡邊恭史, Watanabe Yasushi, 17), who were respectively referred to as "A", "B", "C", and "D" in court documents. At the time of the crime, they used the second floor of Minato's house as a hangout, and had, as chimpira, previously engaged in crimes including purse snatching, extortion, and rape.

On 25 November 1988, Miyano and Minato wandered around Misato with the intention of robbing and raping local women. At 8:30 p.m., they spotted Furuta riding her bike home after she had finished a shift at her job. Under Miyano's orders, Minato kicked Furuta off her bike and fled the scene. Miyano, under the pretence of witnessing the attack by coincidence, approached Furuta and offered to walk her home safely. Furuta, accepting this offer, was unaware that Miyano was leading her to a nearby warehouse, where he revealed his yakuza connections. He raped her in the warehouse and again in a nearby hotel, threatening to kill her. 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 in captivity in order to allow numerous people to sexually assault her. The group had a history of gang rape and had recently kidnapped and raped another girl, whom they released afterward.

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