Horror as teen raped and tortured by evil killers who hid her body in concrete-filled drum

It was an autumn evening in 1988 and Junko Furuta from Japan was biking home from her part-time job. In the city of Misato, the 17-year-old was abruptly kicked off her bicycle by a man who immediately fled the scene. She was then approached by another man, who claimed to have witnessed the scene, and offered to walk Junko home. After gaining her trust, the alleged helper led her to a local warehouse and told her he was the member of Yakuza - the Japanese mafia. Forcing Junko to follow him, he took her by a taxi to a hotel and raped her. The perpetrator was Hiroshi Miyano, part of a 4-member gang responsible for heinous crimes that eventually took Junko's life.

Part of the group were four boys in their late teens - Hiroshi Miyano, Jō Ogura, Shinji Minato, and Yasushi Watanabe. They would hold her captive for over 40 days in a house in the Ayase district of Tokyo, subjecting her to a daily routine of sadistic and sickening torture.

Furuta was gang-raped, beaten and sodomised multiple time a day by the group and their friends. When her parents contacted the police about the disappearance, Junko was forced to tell them that she was okay. Her abductors lit fireworks in her vagina and anus, which caused severe burns, tearing and bleeding.

She was starved and forced to eat cockroaches, as well as drink her own urine. At times, she was suspended from the ceiling of her room and used as a punching bag by her captors. These pitiless beatings damaged her organs and caused internal bleeding, making her writhe in agony.

The brutal torture continued. The four perpetrators poured hot wax on her eyelids, stuck sawing needles in her breasts, and even ripped off her left nipple with pliers. They dropped iron barbells on her torso, making her lose the control of her bladder and bowels.

She died from her injuries on January 4, 1989, after more than a month of sustained and extreme abuse. In an attempt to hide the crime, her killers placed her body inside a drum and encased it in over 50 gallons of cement.

The case began to unravel weeks later when two members of the group were arrested in January over the abduction and assault of another young woman. During questioning, they revealed details of the earlier crime and directed police to the location of the body, which was recovered the following day.

The remaining suspects were also arrested and all were later charged with serious offences including abduction, rape and murder. But their lenient sentences caused outrage, with many demanding the death penalty for the convicted gang.

The court sentenced Miyano, the ringleader, to 20 years in prison. Ogura received eight years in juvenile prison, while Minato and Watanabe received five to seven years and five to nine years, respectively.