Lindsay Ann Hawker AP PHOTO

The videotaped images show Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, an English teacher at a Nova Co. language school, and her suspected killer, Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28.

The two came to the coffee shop, near the Gyotoku subway station, at 8:50 a.m. and chatted for about 50 minutes before leaving together.

Hawker was supposed to teach a class at a Nova branch school in Edogawa Ward at 10:50 a.m. that morning, but she did not show up.

Investigators believe the two went to Ichihashi's condo after leaving the coffee shop and he killed her there.

Police found Hawker's body the following day buried in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of the Ichikawa condominium. Ichihashi escaped during a subsequent chase, losing his shoes in the process. Officers were questioning his neighbors when he bolted.

An autopsy in late March determined Hawker suffocated and had been beaten. Police have refused to comment on whether she was sexually assaulted.

Ichihashi was born and raised in Gifu Prefecture. His father is a surgeon and his mother a dentist. He received a bachelor's degree in horticulture in March 2005 from Chiba University.

The 60-sq.-meter condo he lived in is owned by a grandparent.

According to Hawker's friends, she met Ichihashi to teach him English.

The case comes ahead of the verdict in the trial of accused serial rapist Joji Obara, 54, in connection with the rape and fatal drugging of British bar hostess Lucie Blackman, 21, in 2000.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 7, 2007
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