L.A. police plan to close a 1979 cold case today

Miura had arrived in L.A. from Tokyo two days before Shiraishi. She listed the Hollywood Holiday Inn as her destination. The hotel manager there later said he had no record of a guest by her name but that a Mr. and Mrs. Miura had checked in the day Shiraishi was supposed to have arrived. Her body was found five weeks later.

For years, police had no idea she was linked to Miura. But that changed after Miura's wife was murdered, a case that became huge news in Japan.

In 1994, a Japanese court convicted Miura of killing his wife and sentenced him to life in prison. But that decision was reversed by the Tokyo High Court in 1998, when a judge determined that the wife's assailant was unknown.

That case overshadowed the Shiraishi case.

"The case has always been there. We just had to put it together," said LAPD Det. Richard Bengston.

Their first break came in 1984, when a Japanese reporter gave Shiraishi's dental charts to a Los Angeles detective, confirming that Jane Doe No. 88 was Shiraishi.

Over the years, more details emerged. Police learned that during the two-month period after her disappearance, Miura gradually withdrew approximately $20,000 from Shiraishi's bank, including proceeds from a divorce settlement. He used her bank card and secret PIN, police said.

A manager at the Tokyo apartment complex confronted the businessman while he was removing trash bags full of women's clothes and cosmetics from their apartment, police said.

Miura also gave differing accounts about Shiraishi's whereabouts, police said.

"He kept changing his story," said Bengston, who was building what he described as "a strong circumstantial case" when Miura was found dead.

"Not only did he have the opportunity and motive to kill, but he had the mind-set and capability," said LAPD cold case homicide Det. Rick Jackson. "He did the same thing to his wife for a similar motive, financial gain."

Geragos said it's unfair to allege a new murder when there is no way for Miura to have his day in court.

"Why didn't they bring [this] up when they brought Miura back?" Geragos asked. "They know why. Because they didn't have anything."

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andrew.blankstein@latimes.com