‘Miura also solicited 3 men to commit murder’

Kazuyoshi Miura reportedly approached three people to commit murder prior to the shooting of his wife on Nov. 18, 1981 in Los Angeles, according to a Los Angeles Police District detective.

L.A.P.D. detective Rick Jackson disclosed in an affidavit that Miura asked Koji Fukuhara, a sushi chef; Kiyoyuki Mizukami, a former employee of Miura’s company; and Richard Molin, an antique shop owner, to kill someone.

Jackson’s affidavit was among the documents the Attorney General’s Office had submitted in the Superior Court to oppose granting Miura bail.

The detective said the three were in addition to Miura’s former girlfriend, Michiko Yazawa, who had confessed that Miura instructed her to kill his wife, Kazumi, by hitting her on the head with a hammer at the New Otani Hotel in L.A.

Yazawa was subsequently sentenced to two and one half years in prison in Japan for the attempted murder.

Before Miura approached Fukuhara, Mizukami, and Molin, the Japanese businessman took out three separate life insurance policies on his wife, Kazumi, and made himself the beneficiary, Jackson said.

The detective said Miura was a frequent customer of a Japanese restaurant in the Japanese Village Plaza where he met the sushi chef, Fukuhara.

Fukuhara envied Miura since the latter appeared to be a successful businessman.

Jackson said that, in the early part of March 1981, Fukuhara received a telephone call from Miura, who was staying at the City Center Hotel on 7th Street. Miura asked Fukuhara to come to the hotel after work to discuss some very important matters.

Expecting to hear some business opportunities, the chef was surprised when Miura allegedly solicited him to commit murder.

Miura bluntly asked Fukuhara if he had ever killed a person and said that murder is not bad so long as the killer is not arrested and convicted for it, Jackson said.

Miura allegedly boasted of having acquaintances in the Yakuza and participating in various criminal acts where he would split the proceeds of the crime.

Jackson said Fukuhara recalled that Miura also stated he saw a person get killed and buried in the desert.

In April 1981, Jackson said, Miura relayed a fabricated story to Mizukami, an employee of the businessman’s Fulham Road Company.

The detective said Miura told Mizukami that he had hired a private detective agency to investigate a possible leak of confidential business information to a rival company.

Miura stated that the investigation revealed that it was his wife, Kazumi, who was leaking the confidential information to the president of the rival company.

Jackson said Miura claimed that his wife was having an affair with the president of the rival company.

Miura allegedly asked Mizukami if he would do anything for money. Mizukami was uncertain about Miura’s meaning so he asked for some time to consider it.

About a month later, Jackson said, Miura summoned Mizukami to a hotel and asked if he could tamper with the brakes in his car to cause a fatal accident for Kazumi, who would be driving it. Miura promised to pay 2 million yen if Mizukami agrees to do the job, but he rejected the offer.

In April 1982, Jackson said, Miura ordered Mizukami to go to L.A. to attend to some company business for one week. Miura was also to join him toward the end of the stay.

Mizukami felt apprehensive about the trip because he refused to participate in Miura’s plan to kill Kazumi, according to the detective.

By this time, Jackson said, all of the employees of Fulham suspected Miura of setting up the shooting of his wife on Nov. 18, 1981. The employees warned Mizukami to be very careful.

Prior to his departure, Mizukami wrote five letters where he stated that Miura had solicited him to tamper with the brakes of Kazumi’s car to kill her.

If Mizukami fails to return to Japan, the five persons to whom he addressed the letter should regard his disappearance as Miura’s retribution for refusing to carry out the murder plot.

Jackson said that Mizukami returned from L.A. safely so he instructed the person to whom he entrusted the five letters to destroy them.

With respect to Molin, the latter owned an antique shop on Beverly Boulevard and Miura visited him when he went to L.A.

Molin’s girlfriend would take Miura to various places to purchase merchandise, which the businessman would resell in Japan. Miura also allegedly visited the antique shop to buy marijuana.

Jackson said Molin also delivered marijuana to Miura at the City Center Motel where Miura usually stays when he goes to L.A.

One day, the detective said, Miura asked Molin if he knew how to use a gun. Molin said he was an ex-Marine and was familiar with guns. Miura then allegedly asked if Molin could take care of someone and that there would be a lot of money involved.

When Molin realized that Miura was seriously soliciting him to kill someone, he reportedly became scared and told him he could not do such a thing.

Jackson said Molin only recalled that the last solicitation took place about six months prior to the Nov. 18 shooting of Kazumi.

The detective said that, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s investigation into the financial condition of Fulham, Miura was having severe financial problems in 1981.

The problems, TMPD said, required him to obtain a bank loan to keep his company afloat.

Jackson also revealed in the same affidavit that an unidentified woman who was found dead in a vacant field in Lake View Terrace in 1979 has been identified by the L.A.P.D. as Miura’s missing girlfriend, Chizuko Shiraishi.

Miura had already been convicted in Japan in 1994 for the murder of Kazumi. The verdict, however, was overturned by Japan’s high court 10 years ago.

Saipan authorities arrested the 60-year-old Miura at the Saipan International Airport last Feb. 21 in connection with the 1981 murder of Kazumi. He has been in detention since his arrest and is fighting his extradition to L.A.