On 22 August 1988, one day after Miyazaki's 26th birthday, Mari Konno, a 4-year-old girl, vanished while playing at a friend's house. After failed attempts to find her, Konno's father contacted the police. Miyazaki had led Konno into his black Nissan Langley then drove westward of Tokyo and parked the car under a bridge in a wooded area. There, Miyazaki sat alongside Konno for half an hour before murdering her, then engaged in necrophilia with her corpse. Miyazaki dumped Konno's body in the hills near his home, departing with her clothes. Miyazaki allowed Konno's corpse to decompose for a while before later returning to remove her hands and feet, which he kept in his closet at home. Miyazaki burned Konno's remaining bones in his furnace, ground them into powder, and sent them to her family in a box, along with several of her teeth, photos of her clothes, and a postcard which read: 「真理さん、骨、火葬、調査して、証明して」 ("Mari. Cremated. Bones. Investigate. Prove.") Konno's hands and feet were found in Miyazaki's closet after his arrest almost a year later.