The father of slain Masumi Watanabe said he hopes her killer receives life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In the first public statements from the Watanabe family following the conviction of former pest control worker Kirk Lankford, Hideichi Watanabe said he was bothered by Lankford's father's attendance at a memorial service for his daughter and hopes that Kirk Lankford's sentence serves as a "moral lesson" for him.

Hideichi Watanabe spoke this afternoon during a conference call with the media.

He said he does not believe — contrary to Lankford's testimony during his murder trial — that Lankford took his daughter's body out to sea because he knows tide patterns and he believes his daughter's body would have washed ashore.

The family will continue the search for her body, he said.

"I would like to know where he left my daughter. When the verdict was announced, we were in the airplane on our way home to Sado (Japan) without Masumi's body. Upon arrival at the airport with words of the news, we could not stop our tears from flowing," said Hideichi Watanabe, during a conference call from Sado Island, Japan. "Knowing the amount of pain a family can go through, we do not want this to happen again."

Lankford was convicted of second-degree murder April 14 and will be sentenced May 27.

The typical penalty for second-degree murder is life with the possibility of parole. But prosecutors will argue that Lankford should not be given the chance for parole.

Masumi Watanabe was staying with a distant relative in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore because her family hoped the experience would help her build self-confidence.

She was last seen April 12, 2007, on Pupukea Road.