Accused murderer Kirk Lankford may argue that he accidentally struck victim Masumi Watanabe with his truck while she was walking along Pupukea Road in April 2007.

The 21-year-old Japanese national disappeared while walking along the road that day and Lankford is accused of murdering her and disposing of her body.

In the second day of Lankford's murder trial, his lawyer asked Watanabe's mother if her daughter would have accepted a ride from a stranger if she had been "accidentally hit" by a truck and needed medical help.

Testifying through an interpreter, Fumiko Watanabe said, "If she was hit by (the) truck and could not move and needed to go to the hospital, then she might get into (the) truck."

Fumiko Watanabe described her daughter as an extremely shy young woman who was visiting relatives in Hawai'i as part of a family plan to help her grow more independent and outgoing.

She initially testified that her daughter would not have spoken to a stranger and would never have gotten into a stranger's vehicle.

Masumi Watanabe spoke no English and never talked to anyone she didn't know, her mother said.

The relative Masumi Watanabe was staying with in Hawai'i, Yumi Miura, also took the witness stand, describing Masumi as a woman so introverted and shy that she would only go swimming at the beach if she was fully clothed.

But Masumi gradually gained self-confidence during a three-month stay with Miura's family, eventually taking 30-40 minute morning walks by herself.

When she first arrived in February, Masumi Watanabe would never walk by herself and never walked during daylight hours because of fear that she would encounter someone she didn't know, Miura testified.