Murderer of NOVA English Teacher Caught After Getting Cosmetic Surgery

Lindsay Ann Hawker (December 30, 1984 - March 24, 2007)

One of the last Facebook messages written by the murdered English teacher in Japan, Lindsay Ann Hawker, was to her boyfriend, ”Love u lots dont worry abt the gut (guy) who chased me home, its jus crazy Japan. miss u xxx.” (Get full article here)

Nearly a three year manhunt for a nationwide WANTED murderer came to an end last week in Japan, as police arrested Tatsuya Ichihashi (30) in Osaka on November 10, 2009. This is a clip of the arrested and Japanese police coming out of a train arriving at Tokyo station - you’ll see just how high-profile this case was. . . media is just going buck-wild. He comes out of the train at 1:04.

What’s the story?
It was back in early 2007, when 22-year old British citizen teaching English in Japan, Lindsay Hawker, was killed in her apartment. The suspected man, Tatsuya Ichihashi was seen fleeing the apartment. The Japanese man was known to have followed Hawker home before, asked for her number, drew sketches of her. . .

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Why is this one case such a big deal?
Ichihashi allegedly moved the bathtub from Hawker’s bathroom to the balcony, put her body into it, then buried her in soil/sand. It wasn’t only the way in which she was killed that shocked the nation and Hawker’s home country, Britain, but it was also the fact that this inhumane sicko was able to hideout for days, weeks, months, and years.

Japan has one of the lowest murder rates in a developed country, and a very efficient policy system that has for years, maintained order in society by working directly with the people of the community - their failure to catch the killer was not only upsetting, but was also an extreme embarrassment for the country as the case gained international coverage. Hawker’s parents visited Japan several times speaking out emotionally, urging Japanese media and police to continue coverage until the man was in custody. Even the suspect’s parents have appeared on television telling their son to turn himself in.

How he got caught:
According to the Telegraph.co.uk, it’s believed that detectives traced him down after a plastic surgeon contacted them to say that Ichihashi had recently undergone cosmetic surgery - under an alias name, Kosuke Inoue. He was expected at the clinic again for a follow-up procedure, but never showed up. Police made the arrest after discovering his alias and where he has been hiding out for the last month.

Tatsuya Ichihashi or alias name Kosuke Inoue gets cosmetic surgery. . .

Similar Case:
Hawker’s case has been repeatedly compared to the 2000 murder of Lucie Blackman, another female British citizen whose dismembered body was found buried in a shallow grave at a beach in Miura, Kanagawa in June 2001.