Highway to Hell

TRIGGER WARNING: We typically don't have trigger warnings since it is a crime podcast, but this episode is ESPECIALLY graphic in topics of kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault. Not appropriate for young listeners.
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In November 1988, 17-year-old Junko Furuta, a high school student in Misato, Saitama, Japan, was abducted by a group of teenage boys led by Hiroshi Miyano, a youth with yakuza connections. She was held captive for roughly 40 days in a house in the Adachi ward of Tokyo in the home of one of her captors, whose own parents were living in the same building and reportedly did not intervene. During her captivity, Junko was subjected to relentless and brutal abuse by four primary perpetrators and others who came and went. She died in January 1989 from her injuries. Her body was concealed in a concrete-filled drum and abandoned, which gave the crime its common name in Japan: the "concrete-encased high school girl murder case."
The legal fallout drew lasting outrage. Because all four main offenders were minors under Japanese law, their identities were initially protected and they were shielded by the juvenile justice system, which prioritized rehabilitation over punishment. The sentences struck many as shockingly lenient given the severity of the crime. Ringleader Hiroshi Miyano received the harshest term at around 20 years, while the others received far shorter sentences... roughly five to ten years, five to nine years, and five to seven years respectively. Prosecutors and the public viewed the outcomes as wholly inadequate, and all four were eventually released back into society.
The aftermath deepened public anger. At least one offender reoffended, including a conviction tied to a violent attack years after his release. Some married and built ordinary lives, reportedly disclosing their pasts to their spouses; one died in 2021 after years of illness and isolation. The case became a touchstone in Japanese debates over juvenile sentencing, victims' rights, and whether protections afforded to young offenders can fail to deliver justice for catastrophic crimes. Decades later, Junko Furuta's name remains a symbol of those unresolved tensions, and her case is still cited whenever Japan revisits how it treats minors who commit grave offenses.
Sources:
Murder of Junko Furuta — Wikipedia
Junko Furuta: Examining the Light Sentences of Her Killers — HowStuffWorks
Where Are Junko Furuta's Killers Now? — ComingSoon
The Junko Furuta Murder Case: Justice Revisited — Tokyo Weekender
Junko Furuta Killer Again on Trial — Tokyo Reporter
The UK's Grooming Gangs and the Lessons Never Learned — Al Jazeera
Rotherham Grooming Gang Scandal — Al Jazeera
Brock Turner Sentence — CNN
Ethan Couch Sentencing — BBC
Heisei Yakuza: Burst Bubble — ResearchGate
Street Youths, Bosozoku and Yakuza — Office of Justice Programs
Japanese Juvenile Law — Wikipedia
Criminal Majority in Japan — European Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies
Tokyo Ghost Hunting — Metropolis Japan
Haunted Places in Japan — TripXL
7-Day Tokyo Itinerary — Rakuten Travel

In the early 1980s, Hoyt Richards was on track to become the world's first male supermodel. He worked campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Versace, Cartier, Burberry, and Valentino all while being part of a cult that would consume 2 decades of his life.
On a Nantucket beach in 1978, 16-year-old Richards met Frederick von Mierers: older, charismatic, and full of Eastern philosophy, astrology, and talk of the universe's hidden architecture. Von Mierers victims would later say he could make you feel special, seen... and he pulled attractive, vulnerable people into his orbit.
His cult was called Eternal Values, and von Mierers claimed he was an alien "walk-in" spirit, reincarnated from the giant star Arcturus, sent to Earth to prepare a chosen few for the apocalypse he predicted would arrive in 1999. Those who followed him completely, he promised, would be saved by a UFO. The rules were strict: restrictive vegetarian diets, mandatory tanning sessions, total celibacy, and absolute financial surrender. Members slept on futons on the floor, communally, regardless of what they earned outside. Anyone who challenged him faced "slamming sessions" which were group rituals where von Mierers and loyal members screamed insults and tore the dissenter apart psychologically until they submitted.
He sold gems, readings, and stole his followers salaries. Von Mierers died on February 4, 1990, from AIDS-related complications, at his North Carolina compound. He was 43. His followers didn't know he had the disease until after his autopsy a final betrayal for a man who preached celibacy. A Vanity Fair exposé on his gem fraud appeared the same month he died, too late to prosecute him.

Biographical and Background Reporting (2026)
"Who Was Frederick von Mierers? All About the 'Bring Me the Beauties' Cult Leader." Biography.com, 2026.
"'Bring Me The Beauties': New Docuseries Explores 'Eternal Values' Cult." Rolling Stone, 2026.
"'Bring Me the Beauties': Inside the Alien Sex Cult HBO Documentary." Variety, 2026.
"The Untold Saga Behind an Infamous Male Supermodel Cult." The Hollywood Reporter, 2026.
"The True Story Behind 'Bring Me the Beauties' and the Eternal Values Cult." Time, June 1, 2026.
"Who Was Eternal Values Founder Frederick von Mierers?" A&E, 2026.
"Who Was Frederick von Mierers? How Did He Die?" The Cinemaholic, 2026.
"What Was Eternal Values Leader Frederick von Mierers' Cause of Death?" Distractify, 2026.
Hoyt Richards — Wikipedia.
"How Did Male Model Hoyt Richards Escape the Cult?" Primetimer, 2026.
"Where Is Hoyt Richards Now?" MEAWW, 2026.
Living Cult Free — Hoyt Richards biography.
"Fabio Helped Me Escape From a Cult." MEL Magazine / Medium.
"Hoyt Richards: Model Behavior." Nantucket Magazine.
"Why An 'Alien Walk-In' Cult Leader Convinced Elite '80s Models To Flee The Apocalypse." International Business Times UK, 2026.
Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult — Wikipedia. Series overview, crew, and episode structure.
Ruth Montgomery — Wikipedia. Background on the "walk-in" concept and Aliens Among Us (1985).
New Age — Wikipedia. History, belief structure, and cultural penetration of the New Age movement.
HIV/AIDS in New York City — Wikipedia. Statistical and historical context.
"The AIDS Epidemic in the United States, 1981–Early 1990s." CDC Museum Online.
Billy Baldwin (decorator) — Wikipedia.
Out on a Limb — Wikipedia. Shirley MacLaine (1983) and the mainstreaming of New Age belief.
"Supermodel." Encyclopædia Britannica. Cultural and commercial context of the 1980s modeling industry.
Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. W. W. Norton, 1961. The foundational academic framework for understanding cultic control systems.
Steven Hassan, Combating Cult Mind Control. Park Street Press, 1988. The BITE model (Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotional control) referenced in Chapter Three.

In 1952, a devout Catholic girl was born in a small Bavarian town. By 1976, she was dead at 23, weighing 66 pounds, after 67 exorcism sessions conducted by two Catholic priests while a medical diagnosis went untreated. Her name was Anneliese Michel. You probably know her as Emily Rose.
At 16, Anneliese began experiencing seizures and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and depression. She was hospitalized multiple times. But the psychiatric medications weren't working, or she believed they weren't, and she began to experience visions of demonic faces during her prayers. She grew convinced she was possessed. Her deeply Catholic family agreed.
In 1975, Bishop Josef Stangl of Würzburg granted permission for a formal exorcism under the Roman Ritual. Father Arnold Renz and Father Ernst Alt began conducting sessions at the Michel family home in Klingenberg am Main. One to two sessions per week, each lasting up to four hours. They recorded everything on cassette tape. Forty-three tapes survive. On them you can hear Anneliese screaming, growling, barking like a dog, and speaking in voices that identified themselves as Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Adolf Hitler, who argued in Bavarian dialect, and a disgraced 16th-century priest named Fleischmann.
Her parents stopped consulting doctors at her request. On July 1, 1976, Anneliese Michel died of malnutrition and dehydration. The priests and her parents were tried and convicted of negligent homicide in 1978 and sentenced to six months suspended. The court was clear: she was mentally ill, not possessed.
Her grave in Klingenberg am Main has become a Catholic pilgrimage site. Buses come from across Europe. People leave notes requesting her intercession.
She was 23 years old.
SOURCES — Anneliese Michel
Wikipedia — Anneliese Michel — comprehensive overview with primary source citations
All That's Interesting — The Real Story Behind Emily Rose — detailed narrative account
Goodman, Felicitas D. — The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel (Doubleday, 1981) — the only full-length scholarly book on the case; Goodman was an anthropologist who analyzed the tapes
Fortea, Fr. José Antonio — Catholic theological perspective on the case
Find a Grave — Anneliese Michel Memorial — grave location and documentation
The Local Germany — "Fire Resurrects Devil Talk in Exorcism Town" — reporting from Klingenberg am Main
Medium / History Retold — "The 67 Exorcisms of Anneliese Michel" — detailed timeline of sessions
EBSCO Research Starters — Anneliese Michel — academic summary
Transcript of Exorcism Sessions — partial transcripts available via Scribd (translated from German)
German court records — Landgericht Aschaffenburg, Case No. 1 Ks 4/77, verdict April 21, 1978 — conviction of Josef Michel, Anna Michel, Fr. Arnold Renz, and Fr. Ernst Alt for negligent homicide
RTD — "How a Girl Believed to Be Possessed Underwent 67 Exorcisms" — biographical detail
Dark Holme Publishing — The Exorcism That Ended in Death — medical and legal analysis

Title: The I -5 Killer 

The I-5 Killer Randall Brent Woodfield seemed, on the surface, like everything America admired. A gifted athlete from Oregon, he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1974 — only to be cut before the season and later arrested multiple times for indecent exposure, a pattern the NFL had quietly noted. Despite early warning signs, Woodfield drifted in and out of trouble throughout the late 1970s, until the winter of 1980–81, when a killing spree erupted along the Interstate 5 corridor from California through Oregon and Washington.
Over roughly four months, Woodfield committed a string of robberies, sexual assaults, and murders targeting women — often at fast food restaurants and rest stops along I-5. His victims were shot execution-style. Investigators eventually connected him to at least 14 murders, though some estimates run as high as 44. The break came when a survivor identified Woodfield by his distinctive physique — he often wore tape over his face — and investigators matched him through handwriting, physical evidence, and witness testimony.
Woodfield was arrested in March 1981. In 1981 he was convicted of the murder of Shari Hull and sentenced to life plus 165 years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. He was subsequently convicted on additional charges, adding decades more to his sentence. DNA evidence later linked him to several cold cases he was never charged with. He remains incarcerated today, his parole denied repeatedly. Ann Rule's definitive account of his crimes, The I-5 Killer, remains one of the most cited true crime books written about him.

Sources for Reference:
    1    The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule (Amazon) (https://www.amazon.com/I-5-Killer-Ann-Rule/dp/0593441370) — the primary book-length account of Woodfield's life and crimes
    2    The I-5 Killer — Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239848.The_I_5_Killer)
    3    Randall Woodfield: The 1-5 Serial Killer by Blake Simpson (Amazon Kindle) (https://www.amazon.com/Randall-Woodfield-1-5-Serial-Killer-ebook/dp/B0D5BWH841)
    4    Randall Woodfield — Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Woodfield)
    5    The I-5 Killer — Wakefield Books (https://wakefieldbooks.com/book/9780593441374)
    6    The I-5 Killer — Bellingham Public Library (https://bellingham.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S150C585053)
    7    The I-5 Killer — Chicago Public Library (https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S126C2398317)
    8    The I-5 Killer — Glenview Public Library (https://glenviewpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S202C215696)
    9    Randall Woodfield: The 1-5 Serial Killer — Apple Books (https://books.apple.com/us/book/randall-woodfield-the-1-5-serial-killer/id6503261153)
    10    The I-5 Killer Revised Edition (Amazon) (https://www.amazon.com/I-5-Killer-Revised-Ann-Rule/dp/0451165594)
    11    Oregon Department of Corrections — Inmate Records (https://doc.oregon.gov/)
    12    FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) — Cold Case DNA Matching (https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/vicap)
    13    Oregon State Archives — Court Records, State of Oregon v. Woodfield (https://sos.oregon.gov/archives)

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Between 1982 and 1998, Gary Leon Ridgway murdered at least 49 women in and around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Most of his victims were young women, many of them sex workers or runaways, whom he picked up along the Pacific Highway South corridor. He strangled them, dumped their bodies in wooded areas, and for nearly two decades, walked free.
The investigation was hampered from the start by institutional indifference. Law enforcement operated under an unofficial but widely understood attitude known as NHI — "No Humans Involved" — a designation applied to cases involving sex workers, homeless individuals, or drug users. Victims in these categories were deprioritized, their cases worked less aggressively, their families given fewer resources. Detectives who did push for more attention were often met with bureaucratic resistance. The assumption that these women had placed themselves in danger, that their deaths were somehow less urgent , allowed Ridgway to keep killing for sixteen years.
He was finally arrested in 2001 after DNA technology linked him to several victims. In 2003, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 murders in a deal that spared him the death penalty in exchange for helping locate the remains of still-missing victims. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sources:
Sources: Green River Killer Research
Rule, Ann. Green River, Running Red. Free Press, 2004.
Smith, Carlton & Guillen, Tomas. The Search for the Green River Killer. Penguin, 1991.
Prothero, Mark & Smith, Carlton. Defending Gary. Union Square Press, 2006.
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-1-00175-9. Guilty Plea & Sentencing Documents, 2003.
King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Statement of Defendant on Plea of Guilty, 2003.
Washington State Attorney General's Office. Green River Task Force Investigative Records. Washington State Archives.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gary Ridgway Case Files. FBI Vault, vault.fbi.gov.
King County Medical Examiner's Office. Victim Autopsy & Identification Records. King County Public Records.
The Seattle Times. Green River Killer Archive, 1982–2003. seattletimes.com.
The Tacoma News Tribune. Green River Killer Coverage Archive.
Seattle Weekly. "The List" Investigative Series on NHI Classification and Victim Deprioritization.
FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators. U.S. Department of Justice, 2008.
Criminology & Public Policy Journal. "Policing Sex Work." Various authors.
Violence Against Women Journal. "Vulnerability and Victimization: Street Sex Workers and Violence." Various authors.
Green River Killer: Mind of a Monster. Investigation Discovery, 2019.