Miura officially named suspect in death of another woman

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 Kyodo -
Closing a crucial chapter in the decades-long case surrounding the now-deceased
Japanese businessman who was charged with conspiracy to murder his wife,
Kazuyoshi Miura, will officially be tied to a separate death regarding a former
girlfriend whose decomposed body was found near Los Angeles in 1979.
Detective Rick Jackson, a Los Angeles Police Department investigator who has
been on the Miura case for nearly 10 years, tells Kyodo News that compelling
factors support that Chizuko Shiraishi was a murder victim and Miura was
responsible.
Statements Miura made to witnesses, circumstantial evidence such as similar
financial transactions that followed the deaths of both Shiraishi and his wife
Kazumi Miura, along with other indicators, led to the reclassification, which
subsequently calls an end to further investigations.
Jackson, along with his partner Richard Bengston, pursued the official
conclusion of Shiraishi's case despite Miura's death. ''We felt we owed it to
the family and the Japanese public who have followed this case for years,'' he
said.
In a memoir published in 1984, Miura denied any association with the murder of
Shiraishi, who was 34 at the time of her death.
According to the LAPD investigation report filed with the extradition papers
and other sources, Shiraishi worked for a company that Miura owned during the
late 1970s. After she left for Los Angeles in March 1979, her whereabouts
became unknown.
Two months later, the unidentified body of a person who had passed away from
unnatural causes was found in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Dental records linked
the remains to Shiraishi in March 1984.
Because the body was so badly decomposed when it was discovered, no physical
cause of death was deemed by the L.A. County Coroner's office. It was
concluded, however, there was a strong possibility she had been murdered.
Two days prior to Shiraishi's arrival in the United States, records show Miura
was in Los Angeles. After her disappearance, the businessman withdrew a sum of
over 4 million yen from her bank account.
Following the death of his wife Kazumi, Miura collected around 160 million yen
from insurance policies.
''He was doing the same thing for financial gain,'' said Jackson. ''When you
look at the two cases together, it really shows you his mindset.''
In his book, Miura asserted Shiraishi had sent an automated teller machine card
along with a letter to his address upon reaching the United States. The letter,
he said, indicated she wanted to use the money in the account to pay for what
she owed him and thereby justified the withdrawals.
Last February, Miura was arrested on Saipan, the largest island and capital of
the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, on charges of
murder and conspiracy to murder his wife Kazumi. His apprehension revived a
drama that spanned decades and captured the interest of people on both sides of
the Pacific.
While sightseeing in Los Angeles in 1981, Kazumi, 28, was shot in the head and
died from complications a year later in Japan. Although the mysterious
circumstances of her death cast Kazuyoshi Miura as a suspect, multiple issues
prevented his trial in the United States.
After more than seven months of intense legal conflict, Miura was extradited to
Los Angeles last Oct. 10. The saga, however, came to an abrupt end when he was
discovered hanged inside an LAPD detention cell less than 24 hours after his
L.A. arrival.
The Los Angeles County Department of the Coroner officially ruled Miura's death
a suicide, but his family and his attorney Mark Geragos have since claimed
otherwise.
An LAPD press conference on the reclassification of Shiraishi's case is
scheduled for the middle of the week.
==Kyodo