Forty-four days: the torture that no one stopped

Forty-four days: the torture that no one stopped: The murder of Junko Furuta November 1988. A 17-year-old girl is knocked off her bike in Misato, Saitama. What begins as an apparent robbery turns into 44 days of systematic captivity, over 400 documented assaults, and a death whose body will be found in a concrete drum. Her murderers would be released before serving a decade in prison. In this episode, we explore how a house located in Adachi became a criminal meeting point while parents, neighbors, and police remained inactive. We analyze the failures that allowed Junko to call for help on December 30, only for the police to accept the explanation of a dialing error. We reveal why 100 assailants identified by DNA were never prosecuted and how the Japanese juvenile justice system turned the most brutal crime of the 80s into an unresolved debate. Victim: Junko Furuta Date: November 25, 1988 - January 4, 1989 Location: Misato and Tokyo, Japan Status: Closed cases; documented recidivism 2004-2018 - More than 100 assailants confirmed by forensic analysis were never charged or tried. - The police refused to enter the house where Junko had been held captive for 16 days after an initial visit. - Junko's uterus showed severe damage consistent with sustained sexual violence over 44 days. - The four defendants were convicted only of serious injuries, not intentional homicide. Junko Furuta, Tokyo 1988, murder, serial killer, justice, forensics, investigation, mystery, corruption, kidnapping, true crime SpanishTo listen ad-free and access premium episodes, start your 30-day free trial at obomedia.comOBOMEDIA presents true crime storiesa true crime podcast built on real cases.Every true crime story in our crime files follows the crime investigation from the missing person report to the trial: investigators and police building a murder case, a police investigation gone cold, justice for the victim and those who survived.We open the unsolved murder, the cold case reopened decades later, the mysterious death, the disappearance, the serial killer, the family murder, the murder mystery; the missing persons  a missing woman, a missing girl, a missing man found dead and the missing and murdered.From the infamous case to the unsolved case, from classic true crime to dark true crime and disturbing true crime: true crime reports, real crime stories, real murder cases, true murder stories and unsolved mysteries one true crime case at a time, from the OBOMEDIA true crime vault.© 2026 Created with OBOMEDIA technology. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text and related materials) are the property of their respective creator and are distributed under the OBOMEDIA name on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing and business inquirie