Updated at 5:32 p.m., Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Parents of missing woman make public appeal
Advertiser Staff
Overcoming profound cultural differences and personal reticence, the parents of Masumi Watanabe made a public appeal this afternoon for information about the whereabouts of their daughter's body.Prosecutors have charged Kalihi man Kirk Lankford with kidnapping and murdering the 21-year-old Japanese national April 12, but her body has never been found.
Overcome with emotion, Fumiko Watanabe, Masumi Watanabe's mother, said through an interpreter, "It is important to find the body" and take Masumi home to Japan.
Hideichi Watanabe, the father, said he has returned to Hawai'i four times since the disappearance. He has placed flowers each time at the site on Pupukea Road where a witness has told police she saw his daughter getting into a truck owned by Lankford's employer.
He has rented a car and with the help of volunteers, has driven on O'ahu looking for his daughter's remains, Watanabe said, through interpreter Mieko Crans.
"We are sure Masumi is on O'ahu," he said, appealing to anyone with information about the case to call the Honolulu Police Department CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
"We really want to have Masumi back as soon as possible. We really look for the information to take her body back to Japan," he said.
At the request of local law enforcement, the Watanabes declined to discuss the criminal case or Lankford.
Lankford, 22, has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled to got to trial in the murder case in February.
