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L.A. Giwaku: Two-Bit Celebrity Kazuyoshi Miura & The Homicide Case That Was Never Properly Laid To Rest

[Note: If you have reached this page via search engine, I recommend you see all collected posts relating to this case by clicking here.]


"Japan businessman arrested in wife's 1981 killing"
- CNN

"Man again held in his wife's 1981 killing in L.A."
- Los Angeles Times

"Murder suspect Miura Kazuyoshi arrested in Saipan"
- Jiji Tsûshin

"Differences in US justice system lead to dramatic arrest"
- Sankei Newspaper

A few headlines from the tsunami of news over the weekend about the arrest of Miura Kazuyoshi (三浦和義容疑者), (re)suspected in the 1981 murder of his wife. First, let me backtrack through a seemingly unrelated case.


I've been interested in the Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short) homicide since reading James Ellroy's seminal novel "The Black Dahlia" in the early 90s. Worldwide fascination for the infamous murder has never really gone away, but there was a spike of renewed interest in the early noughties upon Arcade Publishing's 2003 release of Steve Hodel's "Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder."


The author, himself an ex-Hollywood senior detective with over 300 homicide cases under his badge and now a private investigator, claims that his own father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, was in fact Elizabeth Short's killer. Why? He used her body as raw material to create his ultimate shrine to surrealist art (Hodel Sr. was good friends with famed artist Man Ray). Hodel has gone to great lengths to prove this despite other authors, certain members of the LAPD and true crime buffs rebuffing his theory. Chief among his naysayers is journalist Larry Harnisch, who believes surgeon Dr. Walter Alonzo Bayley was the twisted architect of Ms. Short's death. I had previously leaned toward the Bayley theory, but Harnisch has decidedly lost the "battle" with Hodel by failing to put his words in print and publish his long-awaited book or even update his website.


Meanwhile, Hodel released a revised and expanded edition of his tome through Harper Collins in June 2004 and constantly updates his astounding FAQ section with illustrated PDF responses to queries -- the evidence mounts. He is also the go-to guy for Black Dahila television coverage, with recent appearances on shows such as CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° (transcript here). With Hodel's access to previously unseen DA files and photographs, his is becoming the dominant theory. But sadly, without extant DNA evidence the case will most likely remain forever "Unsolved." Interestingly, James Ellroy pulled his support for Hodel's theory right around the time DePalma's $50m film adaptation of his (re-released) novel came out. Ellroy is a literary genius and my favourite author, but he's not shy about his love of loot...


Why the protracted Dahlia preamble in a story about Miura? At the time Hodel's book was released in paperback I checked out his official site and in his biography it stated the following:

"[Hodel] has conducted mainly criminal defense investigations in both states and worked over six years as lead investigator on a high-profile international murder case which resulted in an innocent man being released from prison in Tokyo, Japan, after five years of detention."

I contacted Hodel in 2004 to ask what case that referred to and he told me it was the Miura murder trial. Hodel informed me that "[he] was the defense investigator in the U.S. for the Miura/Ôkubo trial and worked closely with Ôkubo's Japanese defense team, who were ultimately successful in proving him innocent in conspiring to help kill Miura's wife -- gaining his freedom after five years in prison"


Some background for those not familiar with this sensational, international case. 1981. Miura, president of an apparel and furniture import company, and his wife Kazumi (三浦一美) were on holiday in Los Angeles. While they were in a parking lot along Fremont Ave. taking photographs of the skyline, a dark green sedan pulled up and two young thugs demanded their money. In shock, the Miuras hesitated and were shot from the window of the car. Miura took a bullet in the leg and Kazumi was shot in the head (twice), by a firearm the LAPD has never been able to recover. That was the story Miura told from his hospital bed, harshly criticizing the American violence that ruined their lives. Kazumi fell into a coma and was transported back to Japan, where she later died (see image of Kazumi arriving by US military helicopter at Tôkai University Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture). It couldn't have come at a worse time for L.A., which was trying to clean up its crime-ridden image before the 1984 Summer Olympics. The incident also fostered fear in the Japanese consciousness about big city crime in the US.

Back in Japan, suspicions of the senseless, apparently random murder being a cover up for a life insurance scam grew after Miura received around 1.5 million dollars (Y160m) on a policy taken out soon before his wife was shot. The TV and print media, especially weekly magazine Shûkan Bunshun, put Miura's life under a high-powered microscope. The case became referred to as Rosu (Los) Giwaku「ロス疑惑」, literally "L.A. Doubt" or "L.A. Suspicion." Mention it to a Japanese person over 30 and they'll probably know what it means.

Though there weren't any eye witnesses or wasn't any physical evidence, the circumstantial evidence was enough for Miura to be charged with Kazumi's murder in 1988 and sentenced in 1994. Before that development, Miura was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison in 1985 for the planning of an earlier attempt on his wife's life (three months prior to the shooting) at a hotel room in L.A. Ex-porn actress/Miura mistress Yazawa Michiko attacked Kazumi with a lead pipe in a bid to help collect on Kazumi's life insurance policy (and the promise of marriage to homely Miura). The Tokyo High Court overturned the 1994 murder conviction in 1998 (see image after the hearing) but the attempted murder charge stuck. In Japan, criminal cases involving Japanese nationals overseas can be tried at home. In America, if a crime occurs on US soil it can be tried in the US even if the people involved aren't US citizens. There's also no statute of limitations on murder stateside.

For further background on this serpentine case, The Japan Times covered the acquittal in this article from June 1998 and interviewed Miura for this article published a couple of years after his release from Miyagi Prison in 2001. There is also the 1996 book "Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan" by Japan-based author Mark Schreiber which contains a detailed chapter on the case entitled "The Miura Affair." The chapter also opens a whole different can of worms regarding Shiraishi Chizuko, a female business associate/lover of Miura whose corpse turned up (though remaining a Jane Doe for years) in Los Angeles, days after meeting Miura there in 1979.

Which brings us to Saturday Feb. 23. News broke of Miura's arrest at the airport on the island of Saipan, a commonwealth of the US. The arrest was made in light of new evidence uncovered stateside. I believe the L.A. Times was the first to cover the story. The LAPD issued a statement: "A murder suspect who has been eluding (the) dragnet has been finally captured. Miura's extradition is pending." Miura himself said he was in Saipan to find his wife's killer. It seems his storytelling ability has significantly degraded over the years. It appears that Miura didn't realize that in America there's no statute of limitations for murder. He could've learned this from the series Cold Case, available in Japan on cable channel AXN. As of this afternoon, Miura has been denied bail and is being held until extradition requests are processed. At a hearing on the tropical island Miura complained, "This is an old case from over 20 years ago. There's no risk that evidence will be destroyed. I have no passport and I'm not an escape risk, so why have I been denied bail?" The countless media outlets Miura successfully sued for defamation of character over the years must be rubbing their hands together and boosting circulation as we speak.

As this is basically a film-related blog, I try to tie in entries to that. With Miura it was easy -- he's also a fledgling (or rather flailing) film producer currently signed with live event production company Alpha Japan Promotion (beware of hideous MIDI music, cheesecake photos of 15-year-olds and colours that will make your eyes bleed). Miura's page (see image above) has him looking like a bit player in a bottom of the barrel yakuza V-cinema release. Oh, wait a minute -- that's the type of film he appears in and produces. Junk like M-kei Taxi (『M系タクシー』) and Fûunji: Chôjabandzuke Idonda Otoko (『風雲児　長者番付に挑んだ男』). The latter, executive produced by Miura, boasts a storyline about a superficial cad who'll do anything it takes to become a millionaire. I wonder who inspired the main character?

Miura also regularly appears on "wide shows" (daytime variety shows) such as TBS' Sunday Japon.　Another film Miura appeared in, 1986's No More Comics! (Komikku Zasshi Nanka Iranai!, 『コミック雑誌なんかいらない！』) was released in the midst of his battles with the press. A satirical anti-media rant, it starred crazy Uchida Yûya as a wide show host. More recently across the pond, popular TV series Law & Order aired an episode influenced by the case entited Gaijin in 2004. See the opening sequence on Youtube here.

On a tangent, Miura's aunt was Mizunoe Takiko (水の江瀧子), born Miura Ume (三浦ウメ), a singer turned movie producer who went on to produce over 75 movies at Nikkatsu Studios, including Ishihara Yûjirô's debut Season of the Sun (Taiyô No Kisetsu,『太陽の季節』),and Suzuki Seijun's Branded To Kill. (Regular contributor Aceface previously mentioned her in my January 10th entry on Kinema Junpô's Top 10 of 2007).

Ironically, Miura's Alpha profile lists his tokugi (special skill) as hôritsu sôdan (法律相談), legal advice. Perhaps he should've read some basic US law books during his 15 years in the clink. In the latest entry of the official blog of AJP's president Arai Hideo, he complains about Fuji TV's overzealous reporters showing up at his house and scaring his children and the endless stream of calls he's receiving. The comments range from expressing sympathy, to explaining America's statute of limitations, to calling Miura scum and blaming the shachô for employing a killer.

And as always, there are the family members in the shadows cast by the blinding light of spectacles such as this. Kazumi's mother, Sasaki Yasuko, has suffered more than a quarter-century since her daughter lost her life in a nondescript parking lot in Los Angeles. "I burned incense for my daughter and prayed at a family Buddhist altar, telling her that Americans will put an end to the case, so let's hold onto our hopes and wait," Sasaki told Japan's public broadcaster NHK.

I hope to run a statement of Det. Hodel's thoughts on the Miura case soon. "I've been out of the loop on that case for more than a decade now but I'm sure new information will be forthcoming from LAPD and or the LADA's Office updating the status of the case," he told me.

There's no doubt that everyone on both sides of the Pacific will be watching very closely...

* Special Thanks to Aceface for additional corrections and suggestions


Update:

"Arrest warrant says Japanese businessman orchestrated wife's killing in Los Angeles"
- International Herald Tribune

A press conference has been held in L.A. detailing the warrant for Miura's arrest issued by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, based on findings by cold case detectives Rick Jackson and former Asian crimes task force head Jimmy Sakoda. Although there were no witnesses to the actual shooting, it appears that there were people who saw the incident from high-rise buildings nearby. Miura is said to have given a "hand signal" to whomever was in the vehicle for shots to be fired. Details of the press conference and the reason double jeopardy doesn't apply in this case can be read in AP's article.

Additionally, Steve Hodel contacted me to say that it was only Miura's alleged accomplice, Ôkubo Yoshikuni, that he provided defense investigation for, not both men as I had originally written. Though the work Mr. Hodel did to help prove Ôkubo innocent of involvement in killing Miura's wife surely had an influence on the Tokyo High Court's later decision to overturn the Miura ruling. No weapon, vehicle or accomplice in the killing was ever found. It now looks as if the US side is banking on discrepancies between verbal accounts of what happened, rather than physical evidence, which is interesting in a case this old. Steve Hodel writes:

From 1990-1996, I was the U.S. (Los Angeles) defense investigator for Yoshikuni Okubo and at the request of his Tokyo based attorneys, conducted an extensive follow-up investigation. All of my investigation focused on the question of whether or not Mr. Okubo was or was not an accomplice in the 1981 Los Angeles shooting of Kazumi Miura. (Miura's wife)

My findings (witness interviews and photographic evidence) were forwarded to Okubo's defense team in Tokyo. Several of these witnesses traveled to Japan and testified at Mr. Okubo's trial. After reviewing the evidence, the Japanese tribunal found Yoshikuni Okubo innocent of any involvement in the 1981 shooting of Kazumi Miura, and after five long years of incarceration, he was released from custody. The prosecution then appealed Okubo's innocence to Japan's Supreme Court, who after reviewing all the evidence, agreed with the lower court's finding of "not guilty."

During my six-year investigation I never had any direct contact or involvement with either Mr. Miura or his attorneys. Mr. Okubo's defense team was completely separate and independent from Miura's defense lawyers.

As to the recent (February, 2008) arrest of Kazuyoshi Miura's in Saipan, I have no information other than what has been released publicly through the news media.

Most Sincerely,
Steve Hodel

Update: See my February 29th follow up entry.