July 7, 2026

Chapter 147: Japan's Most Wanted-The Murder of Lindsay Hawker

Chapter 147: Japan's Most Wanted-The Murder of Lindsay Hawker
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Key Takeaways

  • Lindsay Hawker, a bright and adventurous 22-year-old English teacher, moved to Japan in 2006 to pursue her dream of living abroad and teaching.
  • Her life tragically ended when she encountered Tatsuya Ichihashi, a persistent stranger who convinced her to give him English lessons, leading to her abduction and murder.
  • Ichihashi's crime sparked one of Japan's largest manhunts, during which he evaded capture for over two years, even resorting to plastic surgery to alter his appearance.
  • Lindsay's family tirelessly advocated for justice, raising public awareness in both Japan and the UK through media appearances and widespread distribution of wanted posters.
  • After a prolonged investigation and intense international pressure, Ichihashi was eventually apprehended and confessed to the murder of Lindsay Hawker.

In 2007, 22-year-old Lindsay Hawker left England for Japan to pursue her dream of teaching English and experiencing life abroad. Kind, adventurous, and passionate about helping others, she had no idea that one persistent stranger would change the course of her life forever.After repeatedly seeking her attention and convincing her to give him private English lessons, the man followed Lindsay home. When she failed to arrive at work, concern quickly turned into a missing persons investigation that shocked Japan.Her killer fled before he could be arrested, sparking one of the country's largest manhunts. For more than two years, he evaded capture, even undergoing plastic surgery in an attempt to change his appearance and disappear forever.


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https://open.spotify.com/show/40g9BcUDirt3cqirkSvLgd?si=1cfeea01228a4ab0

https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/profile-timeline-lindsay-hawkers-spirit-3919725
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-14010308g.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-14075271
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-14234404
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-14226859
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-14224830
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-17673492
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-14232041
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/10/call-eliminate-japans-hostage-justice-system-japanese-legal-professionalshttps://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/10/call-eliminate-japans-hostage-justice-system-japanese-legal-professionals
https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/celebrity-inmate-tatsuya-ichihashi-who-killed-lindsay-hawker-doing-time-with-better-than-average-creature-comforts
https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/fugitive-ichihashi-may-be-in-philippines
https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/ichihashis-former-mentor-sheds-new-light-on-2007-hawker-murder
https://web.archive.org/web/20080317191147/http:/www.japantoday.com/jp/news/431056https://web.archive.org/web/20080317191147/http:/www.japantoday.com/jp/news/431056
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-04/japanese-man-admits-killing-british-teacher/2782172
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1547136/Post-mortem-secrets-of-woman-buried-in-sand.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/02/japan.justinmccurry
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/24/hawker-japan-murder-ichihashi
file:///Users/courtneyliso/Downloads/.%20https:/www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/05/lindsay-hawker-suspect-face-surgery
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jul/04/japanese-man-lindsay-ann-hawker-murder
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/10/japan-murder-plastic-surgery-hawker
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/28/japan.justinmccurry1
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/3248564/Murdered-Lindsay-Hawkers-killer-may-have-committed-suicide-Japanese-police-fear.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/british-womans-body-in-japan-released-to-father-idUST93158/
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/japan-wanted-poster-shows-murder-suspect-in-drag-idUST285983/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1582786/Lindsay-Hawkers-parents-commemorate-daughters-death-in-Tokyo.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/6541785/Lindsay-Ann-Hawker-murder-Tatsuya-Ichihashi-refusing-to-cooperate-with-police.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8651279/Tatsuya-Ichihashi-profile.html?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first
https://thediplomat.com/2011/01/hawker-accused-book-published/

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Lindsay Hawker?

Lindsay Hawker was a 22-year-old English woman from Brandon, Warwickshire, England, who moved to Japan in October 2006 to teach English abroad.

What happened to Lindsay Hawker?

Lindsay Hawker was murdered in March 2007 by Tatsuya Ichihashi after she agreed to give him English lessons at his apartment in Japan.

Who was Tatsuya Ichihashi?

Tatsuya Ichihashi was the perpetrator in the murder of Lindsay Hawker, a man who became obsessed with her and evaded capture for over two years before being arrested.

When was Lindsay Hawker murdered?

Lindsay Hawker was murdered in March 2007, approximately seven months after she arrived in Japan.

How did Tatsuya Ichihashi evade capture?

Ichihashi went on the run for over two years, reportedly undergoing plastic surgery to change his appearance and using various methods to avoid detection by authorities.

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the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,

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the alternative. We dig into the dark history, the outlaws,

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the secrets, and the downright strange cases that'll make your

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hair stand on the end.

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So, whether you're a city slicker or a ridge runner.

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Come join us by the firelight. Hit plate and let's

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raise a little ruckus mountain murder style.

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Yeah, let's get it boy.

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Hello, Hello, Welcome to the next chapter in the Book

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of the Dead. It has been a long time since

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I've covered a case in Japan, and I think part

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of that has to do with the fact that the

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two Japanese cases I covered in the early days of

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the Book of the Dead were among the most disturbing

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I've ever researched. The murder of Junko Faruda and the

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crimes of the Kobe Child's killer have stayed with me

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for years, and after those episodes, I found myself reluctant

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to return to Japan for another case. But recently I

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came across one I couldn't ignore. It's the story of

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a young woman who shared my birthday, though she was

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ten years older than me, and she dreamed of becoming

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a teacher, traveling the world and helping others. Those who

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knew her described her as warm, intelligent, and endlessly kind.

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That dream eventually brought her from England to Japan, for

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she began teaching English. Not long after arriving, she crossed

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paths with a man whose behaviors should have set off

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alarm bells. He was persistent, refusing to take no for

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an answer. He repeatedly tried to speak with her and

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even followed her home, asking her to give him private

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English lessons. Then one day, she never arrived at work.

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When she was reported missing, the search quickly focused on

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the man who had become so rapidly obsessed with her.

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What followed was a country wide manhunt involving one of

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Japan's most wanted fugitives, a man so desperate to avoid

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capture that he underwent plastic surgery to alter his appearance

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and spent years on the run. Her family would endure

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years of uncertainty before finally seeing justice. This is the

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murder of Lindsay Hawker. Lindsay Anne Hawker was born on

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December thirtieth, nineteen eighty four to Bill and Julie Hawker

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in Brandon, near Coventry, in Warwickshire, England. She had two sisters,

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Lisa and Louise, and the entire family was incredibly close.

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According to an article of her business life. Growing up,

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Lindsay was incredibly popular and well liked among her peers.

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And her teachers at King Henry the Eighths, which she

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attended in Coventry, and she used enthusiasm about everything in

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her life. She was also very intelligent and took school seriously,

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but she balanced her studies with making sure she took

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time to live her life fully, enjoying her time with

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friends and family. According to an article for the BBC,

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her head teacher George Fisher distinctly remembered the vibrant student.

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He said quote, I knew Lindsay well. She was a

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very popular student. After finishing her A levels and biology,

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history and Computing, she headed off to Leeds University, focusing

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on biology. During her time at university, she and her

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boyfriend Ryan Garside fell in love and by the time

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she finished school, they were looking forward to traveling the world,

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getting married and starting a family. Ryan told Business Live quote,

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she was the best thing in my life. Lindsay graduated

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from Leeds University with high honors, and though she planned

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on pursuing her master's degree, she looked forward to a

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chance to get some traveling done. Ever, the adventurous one,

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Lindsay couldn't wait to explore other places, and she combined

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her wanderlust with her desire to become a teacher, and

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she looked to Japan as a way to get the

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best of both worlds. She meticulously researched the country, making

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sure she was conscious of any possible risks, and found

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a roommate that was also looking to travel to Asia.

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In October two thousand and six, at twenty one, she

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said goodbye to her family and boarded a plane to

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Tokyo to start a position at the Nova Language School

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in Koiwa, teaching English. Upon arriving in Japan, she immediately

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began immersing herself in the culture, adapting to her new life,

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where she began to thrive. According to that article for

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Business Live, her new employers were impressed with Lindsay's work

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ethic quote she took her job very seriously and put

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every effort into her new role. As Lindsay got used

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to her new home, she kept in contact with her

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family and with Ryan, sending countless messages back and forth,

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and she was looking forward to Ryan coming to join

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her in Japan. The hustle and bustle of Tokyo, a

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city that never sleeps, is intimidating for anyone to try

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and navigate alone, especially a young woman freshly out of school,

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but Lindsay had done her research and was making do,

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enjoying her work and independence. Open and with an air

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of kindness about her, she was easily approachable and was

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making friends. Her father said, quote, my daughter loved this country.

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She loved meeting Japanese people, and thought of Japan as

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an honorable society built on trust and respect. When we

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visited her, she was proud to show us her life here,

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though so different from life back at home. Lisa and

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Louise said that Lindsay felt safer in Japan than she

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had back in Brandon. However, while Bill Hawker said that

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his daughter was willing to help anyone, that kindness and

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belief in the good and people came with risks. One

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such risk came about in March of two thousand and seven,

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when she was twenty two, seven months after she arrived

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in Japan. On either March twentieth or March twenty first,

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depending on the stores you read, Lindsay encountered a man

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in front of Nishi Funabashi's station, and he attempted to

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initiate a conversation with her. Whether they actually spoke there

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or not is not really known, but eventually Lindsay headed

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back home in her bike and the man followed after her.

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He followed her all the way to the apartment she

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shared with two of her coworkers. Then, because they were home,

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according to the Telegraph, she allowed the man into the

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home when he asked her for a glass of water.

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The man introduced himself as twenty eight year old to

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Tsuya Ichihashi, and according to the Telegraph, he discussed biology

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with Lindsay, her area of study at university, and he

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drew her a portrait and pen that he signed, adding

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his number and home address. After some time speaking with her,

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Lindsay agreed to give Ichihashi English lessons. Though she would

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tell Ryan about this encounter that would likely alarm most people,

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Lindsay seemed unperturbed and brush it off, writing in a

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Facebook message to her boyfriend quote, love you lots and

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don't worry about that guy who chased me home. It's

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just crazy Japan. Miss you kisses. On the surface, Ichihashi

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seemed relatively harmless, if a bit socially awkward. According to

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the Telegraph, he came from a very wealthy family. His

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father was a neurosurgeon and His mother was a dentist,

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and he grew up in Gifu Prefecture with his parents

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and his sister in central Japan. When he met Lindsay,

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Ichihashi was living as a neat which dances for nice

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in education, employment or training, and according to Japan Today,

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he was living off of a monthly one hundred thousand

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yen allowance provided by his parents, which allowed him to

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afford a three bedroom apartment at Yotoko Sunrise in Uchikawa.

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He had a very small group of friends, but they

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all had described him as a talented athlete, particularly in

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long distance running, and his neighbor said he was rather

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quiet and kept to himself. He had studied horticulture at

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Chiba University and had up until recently been dating a

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girl that he had been so enamored with that he

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wrote his graduation thesis about the landscaping at Disneyland based

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on her job there. According to his mentor in Naoki

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and Mariyoma, Ichihashi after the breakup expressed to Mariyoma that

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he wanted to support himself, but he thought that his

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former student was becoming psychologically unstable. According to the Telegraph,

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there had been at least one incident where Ichihashi had

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received a warning from police after he was reported for

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stalking a female student Atchibi University. She had stolen a

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ten thousand note from the coffee shop where the student worked.

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After exchanging a couple of emails, Lindsay agreed to meet

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with Ichihashi at a coffee shop in Ichikawa for a

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private English lesson on March twenty fifth. According to the Guardian,

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she arrived at the cafe in her novo work attire

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and a white coat at around nine am, and she

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could be seen at the counter key in dark clothing,

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appearing to order drinks after he paid. The lesson began

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and lasted approximately forty five minutes. Again, according to the

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reports you read, there are slight variations to what happens next,

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but the end result leaving the cafe is the same.

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Either Ichihashi convinced Lindsey to return to his apartment with him,

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as he had forgotten to bring enough money to pay

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her for the lesson, or he invited her to come

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see the garden he was creating on his balcony due

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to his interest in horticulture. Either way, Lindsay agrees and

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takes a taxi with him to Kyotoko Sunrise apartments. When

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she arrives, she tells the driver that she'd be right back.

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She was only popping in for a moment, as she

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was reportedly supposed to start work at ten point fifty,

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but after approximately seven minutes of waiting, the driver left.

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As the hours passed, Lindsay missed her shift at work,

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and her roommate grew worried as it got later and later,

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but she never came home, nor would she answer her phone.

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Lindsay's roommate called the police that evening, and the next day,

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when she failed to turn up for class again, the

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school reported her missing and called her father to inform

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him that they hadn't heard from her in two days,

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which was highly unusual. Two officers visited the apartment in

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Funabashi where she was staying, and they found the portrait

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Ichihashi had drawn and signed. Since he had written his

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address sound as well, the police headed to his apartment

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to speak with him, after her roommate let them know

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that she was going to give him an English lesson.

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As police arrived, the lights were off, but they could

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hear someone moving around. They called for backup, and seven

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other officers were dispatched, but as they arrived, they spotted

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Totsuya Ichibashi, who was clutching a bag and making a

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run for it barefoot. He managed to escape, disappearing from view,

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dropping the bag, which was full of clothing in the process.

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Now there are different reports as to how exactly he escaped.

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Some say that he jumps from his balcony to a

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neighboring one. Anothers say he ran down the stairs and

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jumped over the railing to get away, and others say

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he had simply managed to get out of the apartment's

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back exit before the area could be cordoned off. Either way,

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he managed to get out without the police catching him.

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Investigators entered the fourth floor apartment and found the place

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in disarray. A struggle had clearly occurred there, and it

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seemed as if someone had attempted to hastily clean things up,

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but they had done a poor job in doing so.

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Also discovered was that the bathtub had been removed from

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the restroom. Puzzled, they find it out on the balcony,

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but to their horror, it isn't empty. The tub is

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filled with sand and soil, and just visible was a

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left hand. Chief investigator Yoshihiro Sagita told the Guardian quote

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the bathtub was left out on the balcony and the

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body was left there in the bathtub. Furthermore, the corpse

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was covered in dirt as if to hide it. The

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nude body was that of a female in her twenties

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with long brown hair. She had suffered bruising to her face,

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but otherwise her cause of death was not immediately apparent.

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Inside the apartment was a handbag and Linday's identification, and

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also found were several mangas containing violent section imagery and

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a cart was later found that police belief was used

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to transport sand from the garden center into the apartment,

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and speaking with Ichihashi's neighbors, police learned that while he

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had been a relatively quiet neighbor, the night before the

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police arrived, they had heard a lot of banging and

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hammering coming from his apartment. This was determined to be

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the sound of Ichihashi ripping the bathtub from the wall

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and dragging it out into the balcony. While the body

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was identified by NOVA colleagues as twenty two year old

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Lindsay Hawker, a formal identification came the next day, when

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her father and boyfriend flew to Tokyo. An autopsy was

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conducted and it was determined that Lindsay had been bound,

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viciously beaten, sustaining a broken nose, and she had been raped.

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Her cause of death was determined to be manualisphyxiation. Her

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killer had strangled her with his bare hands. A warrant

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for Ichihashi's arrest was issued after he is charged with

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the abandoning a body, and a nationwide manhunt was conducted

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as police attempted to find him. Over one hundred officers

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were dispatched to canvas different areas, and though leeds had

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come in, they weren't having any luck in the first

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few days. According to The Guardian, a hostess bar that

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had Eastern European women on staff was raided after it

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was thought Ichihashi had frequented the establishment, as well as

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a home outside Yokohama whose owner had called mister Ichihashi

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several times. However, both raids were fruitless and police were

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no closer to finding their killer, much to the Hawker's dismay.

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Bill Hawker said in a statement urging for anyone with

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information to come forward, quote, my daughter's killer has now

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brought shame on your country. He must be caught. He

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cannot be allowed to hide away. I still respect this

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country and its people. I know that you placed great

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importance on family and community links. So as a father,

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I appeal to you. If anyone can help the police

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to find my daughter's killer, I beg you to come forward.

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After days without results, the CCTV footage of Lindsay and

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Ichihashi at the cafe was released and broadcasted throughout the

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country in the hopes that someone would come forward with

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more information. Bill Hawker, in the meantime, brought his daughter

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home to Brandon and a funeral service was held at

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Coventry Cathedral. Hundreds of people intended to pay their last respects,

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including Japanese ambassador Yoshiji Nagami. The Hawker family hoped that

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though the police were struggling to nail down a path

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to follow, that Lindsay's killer would soon be caught. As

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the weeks passed, the family was relentless and making sure

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that Lindsay's name stayed on people's minds. According to the BBC,

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they made appearances on the six o'clock news and they

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appeared on Japanese TV as well pleading for help in

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finding their daughters murderer. Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary at

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the time, as well as representatives from the Warwickshire Police,

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flew to Tokyo. Margaret urged the Japanese media to keep

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Lindsay's story in the news, and the police helped the

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family liaise with the investigators in Japan. As the investigation

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reached six months, the family came up with even more

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ways to try and get the public to help. In August,

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they created an email campaign called Don't Forget Lindsay Hawker

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and circulated newsletters urging the reader to forward it to

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as many people as possible. This was at the height

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of chainmail messages, and they did what they could to

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capitalize on people's pension for forwarding emails to their entire

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contact list. Bill and Julia returned to TV, according to

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Business Lives, saying that they believed their daughter had been

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drugged prior to her murder, though based on everything I've read,

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this does not seem to be the case. Then, on

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September twenty fifth, the sixth month anniversary of Lindsay's Bill

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00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:03.920
went to Heathrow Airport and hands it out pamphlets with

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Ijahashi's picture, asking travelers going to or coming back from

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Japan for help and finding him. Though they were persistent

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in their efforts, the police were still no closer to

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finding him. One year after Lindsay was killed, on March

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twenty fifth, two thousand and eight, the Hawker family returned

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to Japan to hold a vigil in honor of her,

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as well as hoping to spark renewed interests in the investigation.

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The police issued updated wanted posters to the public, this

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time showing what Ichahashi could look like with different hair,

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depicting him as a blonde, and even showing what he

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may look like dressed as a woman. According to an

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article for Ruders, four thousand posters and thirty thousand flyers

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with these new images were to be distributed to the public.

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After a year of searching, countless rumors and theories circulated

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through Japan. One such rumor was that he had escaped

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the country entirely and was attempting to evade police by

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living as a woman. Others thought he likely committed suicide,

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but Bill Hawker was adamant that Ichihashi was too cowardly

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to take his own life. He said, according to the Telegraph,

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that Lindsay's killer was an outcast. Quote, I believe this

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man was a loner, a social misfit who targeted my daughter.

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He must be caught. However, by October of that year,

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the Japanese police were sure that suicide was likely the

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route Ichihashi had taken. Though one hundred and forty officers

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from Treeba Prefecture as well as officers from Tokyo had

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devoted countless hours to the case, they were close to

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slowing their efforts down. A spokesperson for the police told

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00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:50.599
the Telegraph, quote, Japan has so many mountains, and if

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he has gone into a remote woodland and died there,

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they might never find him. The Chiba police are continuing

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their investigation, but surely they will reduce it suit. The

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00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:04.880
detectives in Tokyo have concluded that Ichihashi is dead. By

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two thousand and nine, the investigation, though still active, had stalled,

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00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:13.400
though an interesting tip had allegedly come in that January.

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According to an article for Japan Today, allegedly a reporter

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for a news outlet called SPA had reportedly received information

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from a source in the Philippines who was supposedly a

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high ranking official in the government. Allegedly, the source said quote.

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Several months ago, I was informed that Ichihashi moved from

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Sebu to Manila while wanted. Posters bearing his ordinary photo

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had been circulated. He's been posing as a woman and

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changes his hideout every couple of days. We haven't been

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able to tract on his location. Reportedly, Ichihashi had managed

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to enter the Philippines with his own passport. Now. Allegedly,

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a man living in Manila had heard from a friend

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that they had seen someone matching Ichihashi's description. They apparently

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called the police in Kyotoku and reported that Ichihashi had

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entered the country, and they were told that the police

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would verify the information. If it proved accurate, investigators would

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be dispatched to find him. Now, to my knowledge, if

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a report was really made to the police, it did

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00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:29.559
prove to be false. However, it was possible that Ichihashi

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00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:33.559
could have left the country using his own identification, though

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it doesn't seem as if the police believes that he

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really had. According to a former member of the Tokyo

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Metropolitan Police, Ken Kidushiba, he told Japan Today quote until

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his suspect is made a target of a nationwide dragnet,

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it is entirely possible to depart the country without any checks.

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What's more, to initiate an international dragnet, first, the ICPO

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headquarters in France, which is the International Criminal Police Organization

348
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aka Interpol, must be informed in writing. It takes several

349
00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:12.880
days to get the information into computers and several weeks

350
00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:16.920
to determine what sort of warrant should be issued. Many

351
00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:19.680
criminals have been able to network with the underworld to

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flee abroad. Kidoshi would believe that if the rumor that

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00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:28.240
Ichihashi was indeed in the Philippines was true, and if

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he really was living as a woman, it would be

355
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quite a while before he would be tracked down if

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00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:37.319
at all. Quote, for a little over ten thousand and yen,

357
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he can buy a new identity, and if he undergoes

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plastic surgery, he might not get caught at all. By

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the two year anniversary, the Hawkers were vocal in their

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disappointment of police's failure to arrest Ichihashi, and had taken

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more trips to Japan looking for answers. In March of

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two thousand and nine, during another visit, Bill told reporters quote,

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this is my fifth time in Japan since Lindsay was murdered.

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How many more times as a family do we have

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to come back here? How many more pleas do we

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have to make? Until this evil man is caught. Though

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police kept assuring the Hawkers that they were getting closer

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to finding Ichihashi, and had even put up five life

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00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:24.000
sized cardboard cutouts featuring a clip of his voice obtained

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from his computer in different train stations to hopefully garner

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help leads, the family was understandably angry. Julia Hawker, Lindsay's mother, said,

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according to the Guardian, quote, why did nine policemen who

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went to the apartment wait so long before going in?

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Why and how did they let a barefoot man escape?

375
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And why two years on have they still not caught him.

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The investigation seemed like it wasn't going anywhere by the

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fall of two thousand and nine, and though the reward

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for information sat at one million yen, no one had

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seemed to come forward with any useful information. Then, two

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and a half years after Lindsay's murder, the Japanese media

381
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started reporting that Tatsuya Ichihashi had undergone cosmetic surgery in

382
00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:23.839
order to continue to evade police. According to the Guardian,

383
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several un named police sources alleged that Ichihashi had visited

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00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:34.720
multiple plastic surgery clinics to undergo various procedures using different names,

385
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but he failed to return to the clinics for post

386
00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:43.599
operative care, so investigators had been unable to apprehend him.

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At this major revelation, the hawkers, who had never been

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told this by the police, voiced their disappointment, quote, we

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would like to know who the surgeons were, Where did Ishihashi,

390
00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:00.200
the only suspect, obtain the money for the operation, and

391
00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:04.160
who was hiding him? Which hospitals and clinics carried out

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the work and why would they operate on a man

393
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:12.240
who was allegedly the most wanted man in Japan. Of course,

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these were all very fair questions that the family deserved

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answers to. They knew that Ichihashi's parents weren't helping him.

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They had gone to the media themselves pleading for their

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son to turn himself in. So how was he managing

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to fund these procedures. While these allegations had yet to

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00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:34.640
be confirmed by police, spokesmen for the Guietoka Police Takeshi

400
00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:39.880
Otani said that the investigators were working to verify the sightings. Quote.

401
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:42.839
All we have at the moment are reports by several

402
00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:47.559
clinics that a man who resembles the suspect underwent surgical procedures.

403
00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.480
The media are saying it was definitely him, but we

404
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:56.640
don't know that for sure. According to the Guardian, the

405
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:00.240
Yumiyori newspaper reported that Ichihashi had visited a clinic Nick

406
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:03.839
and Fukuoka in October for a consultation to have the

407
00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:08.880
shape of his mouth altered, but the clinician refused. Later

408
00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:12.319
that month, he allegedly had an operation done on his

409
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:17.839
nose in Nagoya, and the clinic suspicious did call police

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00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:22.480
and provided a picture, but as Ichihashi failed to return

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00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:25.359
to have his stitches removed, the police were unable to

412
00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:30.039
confirm it was really him. According to that same source,

413
00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:33.880
pictures attained from the clinics showed that multiple surgeries had

414
00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:37.920
been performed to change his appearance, which included eyelid surgery,

415
00:26:38.359 --> 00:26:40.839
a procedure to reduce the size of his lower lip,

416
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:45.559
and two facial moles had been removed. If the man

417
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:49.279
in the photos was really Ichihashi, he had gained weight

418
00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:51.640
and grown a beard as well in the time he

419
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:55.799
had been on the run. Then, on November tenth, two

420
00:26:55.799 --> 00:27:00.000
thousand and nine, two years and seven months after Life

421
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:04.319
was murdered and just days after the reports of Ichihashi's

422
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:08.279
cosmetic procedures being made public, the police received a phone

423
00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:11.759
call from someone in Osaka who had suspicions about someone

424
00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:15.160
they had just seen waiting to board the ferry. The

425
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.279
person was tall five foot eleven and they were wearing

426
00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:22.599
a hat, sunglasses, and a surgical mask to obscure his face.

427
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.839
Moments before the man was to set sail for Okinawa,

428
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:31.839
an island in the far south of Japan, Totsuya Ichihashi

429
00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:36.640
was arrested for the murder of Lindsay Hawker. Upon his arrest,

430
00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:40.079
it became clear that the allegations of Ichihashi having plastic

431
00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:44.279
surgery were true. He looked very different than when he

432
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:47.279
did at the time of Lindsay's death, and fingerprints were

433
00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:52.400
used to confirm his identity. It also became clear how

434
00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:55.759
he was able to afford these procedures without the monetary

435
00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:59.079
support from his parents. Ichihashi had been working for a

436
00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:03.039
construction company in Osaka for the last thirteen months, having

437
00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:06.720
finally quit in October after saving around one million yen.

438
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:09.880
He had been living under the identity of a man

439
00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:14.319
from Osaka named Kusuki Inue in order to avoid drawing

440
00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:17.480
attention to himself. He spent most of his time outside

441
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.319
of work reading comics and watching videos in the room

442
00:28:20.359 --> 00:28:24.160
he was staying in provided by the company. According to

443
00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:28.319
The Guardian, his coworkers nicknamed him Lenki, did his height

444
00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:30.920
and noted that he never took off his hat or

445
00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:35.000
his glasses. While he had joined his coworkers for a

446
00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:37.680
night of bowling, he hid behind the group when they

447
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:41.599
took pictures. They noted that he seemed a little odd,

448
00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:45.720
but they never suspected that he was wanted for murder.

449
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:50.039
Police searched his dorm room, according to the Telegraph, and

450
00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:54.359
found multiple mirrors, an English language dictionary, and a partially

451
00:28:54.440 --> 00:28:58.400
filled out application for a new passport using his assumed name.

452
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:02.559
Ichihashi was put on a bullet train back to Tokyo

453
00:29:02.599 --> 00:29:05.799
for questioning and the murder of Lindsay Hawker, but he

454
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:10.920
was initially less than cooperative. While being held on a

455
00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:14.599
technicality the charge of abandoning a corpse, the police were

456
00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:19.279
trying to get Ichihashi to talk. However, unlike the United States,

457
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:21.880
where those that are being questioned by police can only

458
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.680
be held for twenty four to forty eight hours without

459
00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:28.480
being charged, Japan allows detainees to be held for up

460
00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:33.759
to twenty three days before being indicted. On December tewond,

461
00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:37.680
according to the BBC, Ichihashi was formally charged with abandonment

462
00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:42.680
of a corpse, and after countless hours of interrogation, he

463
00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:47.480
finally admitted that he killed Lindsay Hawker. He claimed to

464
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:51.319
have rape Lindsay in his apartment and accidentally strangled her

465
00:29:51.400 --> 00:29:56.200
when he tried to muffle her screams. He stated that

466
00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:58.680
her death was an accident and that he had tried

467
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:04.000
to resuscitate her. On December twenty, second to Tsoya, Ichihashi

468
00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:07.079
was charged with the rape and murder of Lindsay Hawker,

469
00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:09.160
and he was set to go to trial in the

470
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:13.519
summer of twenty eleven. Then, to the shock of most

471
00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:18.079
of Japan and the Hawkers, in January of twenty eleven,

472
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:22.519
according to an article for The Diplomat, Jintosha Publishing sent

473
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.400
out a press release stating that they were publishing Ichihashi's

474
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.960
memoir titled Until the Arrest, which followed his life from

475
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.839
the moment he fled from police until the day of

476
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:38.960
his arrest. His book didn't go into detail about his crime,

477
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:44.319
but rather his journey to avoid apprehension, and he spoke

478
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:47.599
about how he was conscious to avoid security cameras and

479
00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:51.319
never looked people in the eye. He spoke about originally

480
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.799
living in a concrete bunker on a small island, eating

481
00:30:54.839 --> 00:30:58.880
wild fruit and fish, even sometimes snakes, and how he

482
00:30:58.920 --> 00:31:02.000
had removed the moles on his face with a pocketknife himself.

483
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:05.440
In the introduction, he said the point of the book

484
00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:08.720
was quote one way of expressing my regret over the

485
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:12.640
crimes I committed. I want any royalties from this account

486
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:16.319
to be given as compensation for the family of the victim.

487
00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:19.559
While there were those that worried the book would negatively

488
00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:23.720
impact the trial, that thankfully didn't seem to be the case.

489
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:28.759
In July twenty eleven, Totsuya Ichihashi went to trial for

490
00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:32.680
Lindsay's murder, and his defense team attempted to argue that

491
00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:36.200
her death was an accident caused during the rape and

492
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:40.720
not a result of premeditation. The Hawker family was in

493
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:46.640
attendance during the trial, and Ichihashi, an alleged showing of remorse,

494
00:31:46.839 --> 00:31:49.440
would bow to her family every day of the trial,

495
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.240
but they averted their eyes. During his testimony, ichihas she

496
00:31:54.480 --> 00:32:00.200
cried as he admitted his crimes, quote, yes, I raped her. Yes,

497
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:03.359
I agree that Lindsay died because of my actions, but

498
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:06.880
I did not mean to kill her. Only Lindsay and

499
00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:09.640
I know what really happened that day. But she can

500
00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:12.680
no longer speak for herself because of me. It is

501
00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:16.440
my responsibility to tell the truth. Throughout this trial. As

502
00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:19.680
victim participants, the Hawkers were allowed to address the court

503
00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:23.400
as well as question the defendant during the trial, and

504
00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:27.200
during his testimony, Bill Hawker urged the court to show

505
00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:30.240
no mercy to his daughter's killer and give him the

506
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:35.079
maximum punishment. According to the BBC, the maximum penalty for

507
00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:39.480
murder is death by hanging. However, this particular punishment is

508
00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:43.799
usually reserved for serial killers, so it was unlikely that

509
00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:47.960
this would be the penalty in this case. At the

510
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:51.519
conclusion of the trial on July twenty first, Ichihashi was

511
00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:54.519
found guilty of the rape and murder of Lindsay Hawker

512
00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:59.559
after Judge Messiah Hoda rejected the defense's argument that Lindsay's

513
00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:03.000
death would an accident, citing the length of time force

514
00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:04.920
would have been needed to be applied in order to

515
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:09.599
cause her death, so the prosecution pushed for capital punishment.

516
00:33:09.799 --> 00:33:14.680
Judge Messiahota sentenced him to life in prison. According to

517
00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:18.279
the BBC, this was decided because he had no previous

518
00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:21.799
criminal record and his age suggested there was a slim

519
00:33:21.880 --> 00:33:27.240
chance of rehabilitation. After the sentencing, the Hawkers were emotional

520
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:32.599
but pleased that Lindsay had finally gotten justice. Bill said, quote,

521
00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:36.240
We've waited a long time for today. We've waited four

522
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:38.400
and a half years to get justice for Lindsay, and

523
00:33:38.519 --> 00:33:43.000
we have achieved that. Today. We are very pleased. Lindsay

524
00:33:43.160 --> 00:33:46.519
loved Japan and you have not let her down. Thank you.

525
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:52.680
Ichihashi did attempt to appeal the ruling and sentencing, insisting

526
00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:55.480
that he had not meant to kill Lindsay, but the

527
00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:58.640
judges of Tokyo High Court rejected the argument and the

528
00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:02.640
sentences in ruling would stay, and one of the judges

529
00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.359
also read a statement from Lindsay's family that said they

530
00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:08.960
believe that Ichihashi had shown no remorse for his crimes.

531
00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:14.000
And deserved the sentence he had been given. As of today, Hitchihashi,

532
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:17.559
now in his forties, has served around fourteen years of

533
00:34:17.559 --> 00:34:22.079
his sentence at Nagano Prison, and according to japan Today,

534
00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:25.480
he is likely going to have to serve another sixteen

535
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:28.639
or so before he's possibly going to be considered for parole.

536
00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:33.320
He's also allegedly doing rather well in prison. He has

537
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.199
a job. His parents as of twenty twenty four visited

538
00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:40.599
him on a monthly basis and contributed money to his

539
00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:43.760
accounts so that he could purchase new clothes and food

540
00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:49.599
and other creature comforts in the commissary. So while he

541
00:34:49.639 --> 00:34:53.519
took a life and spent over two years on the run,

542
00:34:53.840 --> 00:35:00.000
it seems as if prison isn't so bad for his crimes.

543
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.119
Talker traveled halfway around the world chasing a dream. She

544
00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:08.400
wanted to teach, to experience new cultures and to make

545
00:35:08.440 --> 00:35:12.159
a difference in the lives of others, and by all accounts,

546
00:35:12.440 --> 00:35:15.719
she was doing exactly that when her life was stolen

547
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:19.880
from her. For more than two years, her family lived

548
00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:24.199
with uncertainty while her killer hid from justice, changing his

549
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:28.760
appearance and hoping to disappear. But no matter how far

550
00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:34.440
he ran, he could never quite escape what he had done. Eventually,

551
00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:38.519
he was found, arrested and held accountable for taking the

552
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:41.159
life of a young woman who had so much left

553
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:46.159
to give. As always, I thank you so much for listening,

554
00:35:46.199 --> 00:35:50.719
and I hope you have a wonderful week and I

555
00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:54.119
will see you in the next chapter of the Book

556
00:35:54.119 --> 00:36:00.360
of the Dead. Bye, guys, Another page closed. But the

557
00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:04.760
story isn't over for the families left behind. The pain

558
00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:08.559
doesn't end when the headlines fade. And for the victims,

559
00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:13.000
we owe them more than silence for our on salvet cases.

560
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:16.440
If you have any information, please reach out to local

561
00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:20.239
authorities or visit our show notes for links and resources.

562
00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:27.039
Someone out there knows something, Maybe it's you. Thank you

563
00:36:27.159 --> 00:36:29.800
for listening to the Book of the Dead. If this

564
00:36:29.880 --> 00:36:32.760
story moved or spoke to you in some way, talk

565
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:39.280
about it, share it, Keep their names alive. Until next time.

566
00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:46.079
I'm Courtney Liso. Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant,

567
00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:50.119
and remember the dead may be gone, but their stories

568
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:51.559
will not be forgotten.

569
00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:02.719
In