OSAKA -- On the morning of July 7, 1973, 18-year-old Noriko Furukawa of Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, left home for a beauty parlor appointment without telling her mother, with whom she had promised to go shopping that afternoon.
Shortly afterward, the beauty parlor received a phone call from the girl. Noriko canceled her appointment, saying she had someplace else she had to go.
The woman who took the call knew both Miyamotos, and was asked by Noriko to call her mother and tell her that, because of the sudden change in plans, she could not go shopping.