Futoshi Matsunaga - Captivity and Murders

Captivity and Murders

Matsunaga lived in a condominium in Kokura Kita-ku, Kitakyushu. In 1994, he began victimizing Kumio Toraya and his daughter.

Kumio confided to Matsunaga some information about his previous criminal history; Matsunaga then used this information to blackmail Kumio. Kumio even admitted to previous crimes which he had not committed.

Kumio and his daughter were held captive in Matsunaga's room. Matsunaga tortured Kumio with electric shocks, forced him to eat his own feces, and forced his daughter to bite her father. Kumio was 34 when he died of the effects of this abuse on February 26, 1996.

Matsunaga convinced Kumio's daughter that she had murdered her father. He told Junko and the girl to dispose of the remains. Kumio's remains were thrown into the sea near the Kunisaki Peninsula after being pulverized.

The same year, Matsunaga found another target; a woman who had been an acquaintance of Kumio. Matsunaga promised to marry her. He claimed he was a graduate of Kyoto University.

Matsunaga defrauded the woman of 5.6 million yen (approximately USD$69,066.00). She and her daughter had gone to his room and they were then held captive there. The woman escaped by jumping from the second floor to the ground in March 1997. She was put into the care of a mental hospital and her daughter was released.

One day in April 1997, Junko left for work and did not return. Matsunaga called Junko's family, informing them of her absence. He continued to blackmail Shizumi. He made threats to Junko's family, and told them that Junko was a murderer.

Matsunaga then faked his own suicide. Believing him to be dead, Junko returned, only to find him alive. Matsunaga continued to treat Junko abusively. Matsunaga also raped Junko's married sister, Rieko.

Junko's family gave 63 million yen (approximately USD$777,116.00) to Matsunaga, after which he held them captive. He abused the vaginas of Shizumi and Rieko with electric shocks. He controlled the family in ways similar to the methods that cult-leader Shoko Asahara had used.

On December 21, 1997, he coerced Junko to torture her 61-year-old father, Takashige, to death by electrocution.

After suffering Matsunaga's continued abuse, Shizumi's mental state began to deteriorate. He commanded Rieko and her husband Kazuya to strangle Shizumi on January 20, 1998. She was 58.

Eventually, Rieko began to lose her hearing. On February 10, 1998 Matsunaga commanded Kazuya to strangle Rieko, while their 10-year-old daughter Aya held her down. Rieko was 33.

Matsunaga and Junko then confined Kazuya in a bathroom, where he starved to death on April 13, 1998. He was 38.

Matsunaga forced Junko, Aya, and Kumio's daughter to kill Rieko's 5-year-old son, Yuki. On May 17, 1998 Aya strangled Yuki while Junko and Kumio's daughter held him down.

During the trial, Kumio's daughter testified that Matsunaga and Junko had tortured Aya with electricity. Junko, however, denied Kumio's daughter's testimony about this, saying the girl's recollections might have been inaccurate because of guilt feelings about committing her first murder. Kumio's daughter strangled Aya on June 7, 1998.

Matsunaga and Junko dismembered and boiled their victims' remains in pots. The other residents of the condominium heard strange noises and smelled the stench. The victims' remains were finally disposed of in washrooms or put out to sea. The condominium was renovated after the murders. Matsunaga blamed the murders on Junko, who, with their two children, were the only survivors in her family.

Matsunaga's crimes continued. In July 2000, Matsunaga convinced another woman to go away with him, lured by the prospect of marriage. In August 2001, she gave her twin children to him and Junko. Matsunaga and Junko then convinced the woman to give them 20 million yen (approximately USD$246,580.00), telling her that they would need the money to bring up her children.