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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, April 20, 2007

Truck seized in search for woman

By Rod Ohira and Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writers

Masumi Watanabe

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Truck being held in impound.

Crimestoppers

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Police impounded a white pickup truck and have shifted searches to Windward O'ahu as the investigation into the disappearance of a 21-year-old woman from Japan entered its second week yesterday.

Exchange student Masumi Watanabe did not return from her daily walk on Pupukea Road April 12. She has been staying with a host family on the North Shore.

Searches by police and state personnel have shifted from the North Shore to an area near Kahana Bay.

No arrests have been made, but police through CrimeStoppers yesterday released photos of a white 2003 Ford F-150 four-door pickup truck with a silver gas cap near the left rear tire.

Police questioned the truck's owner and impounded the pickup for forensic tests.

The owner of the truck also had his company truck, for a pest-control firm, searched earlier in the week.

According to police, several people interviewed in Pupukea, Kane'ohe and Downtown Honolulu about Watanabe's disappearance mentioned the truck. No witnesses saw Watanabe in or near the truck, or with the truck's owner, police said.

"This truck has come up several times, and we're just trying to piece together bits and pieces of information and make sure the stories add up," said Sgt. Kim Buffett, the police CrimeStoppers coordinator. "If you saw the car parked on the side of the road, anything, call in."

Watanabe's parents are in Hawai'i. The Consulate General of Japan's office in Honolulu is honoring their request that no information be released other than their daughter's name and age.

Police ask anyone who may have seen the truck, or have other information about the case, to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on a cell phone. Free cellular calls are provided by Cingular, Nextel Hawaii, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless Hawaii.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com and Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.