Posted at 5:57 p.m., Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Tip leads police on a failed search for murder victim
Advertiser Staff
Acting on a tip, more than a dozen Honolulu police officers searched areas off a hiking trail at the back of Kahana Valley for the body of Masumi Watanabe, a Japanese visitor who went missing April 12.Officers received a tip that the man charged with murder in connection with Watanabe's death, 22-year-old Kirk Lankford, was seen at the back of the valley in the days following Watanabe's disappearance, police said.
More than a dozen police officers searched for more than two hours starting at about 9:15 a.m. today.
Lankford pleaded not guilty May 7 to a charge of murder. He is being held on $1 million bail at O'ahu Community Correction Center.
Circuit Judge Derrick Chan scheduled Lankford's trial for the week of July 9.
Lankford is accused of murdering Watanabe, a 21-year Japanese national staying with a host family on the North Shore. She was last seen on her daily walk along Pupukea Road.
