New Video Footage of Suspect Ichihashi Made Public

In a development in the case of murdered British English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, new video footage of suspect¹ Tatsuya Ichihashi was made public by police on May 7th. Hawker's body was found at Ichihashi's condominium in March of this year.

The footage was captured by a security camera in the elevator of Ichihashi's condominium² sometime between March 20th and March 25th, when Hawker's whereabouts become unknown.

There remain no clues as to Ichihashi's whereabouts as police continue to appeal to the public for information.

Gyotoku Police Hotline: 047-397-0110


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Please follow this link to Nippon News Network's online article, where you can view the news segment including the elevator footage by clicking either the 56k icon (small video window) or 300k icon (large video window) in the lower right corner of the article. (Windows Media Player required).³

The newscasters cover the same information in the article above, emphasizing that these are the first images of Ichihashi in a "normal" state, fixing his hair etc. The text on the image above also mentions the image as Ichihashi's sugao -- his "natural face" or "real self" -- as captured right before the crime (the black clothing appears to be the same clothing worn in the café footage).

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¹ Although Ichihashi is the prime suspect in Lindsay Hawker's murder, the official crime he is listed as being suspected of (in all media) is "illegal disposal of a dead body," which is often the first charge in a murder case. The standard reference to Ichihashi in every article is the unwieldy "Unemployed Ichikawa City resident suspected of abandonment of a dead body, Tatsuya Ichihashi." The replacement of this with "murder suspect" or simply "suspect" in my translations both aids the flow of the writing as well as providing the Western equivalent of the crime he'd be wanted for questioning in, though it is not technically a correct translation.

² In the first segment of footage, Ichihashi appears to be wearing the same striped top he has on in the wanted poster image.

³ I am not sure how long this footage will remain available online. If anybody has the capability to capture streamed WMV files, please contact me. It could be hosted on Youtube or a similar solution.


Article Source: Nippon News Network (NNN) (a division of the Nippon Television Network [NTV]), May 7th, 5:18pm (Tokyo). Also appeared in slight variations in the Mainichi Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, Jiji Tsûshin etc.