Deceased/Not Found HI - Masumi Watanabe, 21, Honolulu, 12 April 2007 *K. Langford guilty*

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/NEWS01/712050410/1001/NEWS01

5 Dec 07

The parents of a missing 21-year-old woman — who police say was kidnapped and murdered in April — have returned to Hawai'i from Japan four times since then to place flowers at the site of her disappearance and to help in the search for her remains.

and

"We are sure Masumi is on O'ahu," said the girl's father, appealing to anyone with information about the case to call the Honolulu Police Department Crime-Stoppers at 955-8300. Each time he and his wife have returned to Hawai'i, he said, they have placed flowers at the site on Pupukea Road where a witness said she saw Masumi Watanabe getting into a truck allegedly driven by Kirk Lankford, 22, of Kalihi.

Lankford has pleaded not guilty to charges that he kidnaped and murdered Watanabe on April 12. The case is built on circumstantial evidence because her body has never been recovered.

much, much more at link

pic


Also: http://www.findmasumi.org/

Evidence of Murder

Despite failing to find a body, prosecutors allege they have ample proof that Kirk Langford is Masumi Watanabe's killer


http://starbulletin.com/2007/04/29/news/story01.html

Wow that guy who allegedly murdered her sure sounds like a creep.

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=8043944&nav=menu55_1

20 March 08

We may now know what happened to missing woman Masumi Watanabe. The defense attorney for murder suspect Kirk Lankford admits his client dumped Watanabe's body in the ocean.
The judge and jury took a field trip down to the courthouse parking lot and examined Lankford's pest control truck It's at the center of this murder trial.

A tearful Lankford looked on as his lawyer told jurors the man accidentally hit Watanabe with his truck
"Miss Watanabe stepped out to the left in front of him she reached out and her left arm hit the windshield and she spun off to the right." says Attorney Donald Wilkerson.
Lankford reporterdly put her in his truck to help her.

The defense claims the injured woman got hysterical. "She became louder and louder and louder, she opened the door on the right hand side and dove out of the car and right in that vicinity there is a large boulder. Watanabe struck her struck her head on a boulder died at that moment," explains Wilkerson.
The termite technician was worried about losing his job. "He stopped looked at her saw that she was dead loaded her up into the back of his truck," adds Wilkerson.
Lankford then tried to bury the body at Kahana Bay but was confronted by an area resident. He then found another way to dispose of her body.
"He didn't know what else to do he got out towards Chinaman's Hat by Kualoa Ranch took body out of truck , walked her out into the ocean as far as he could," concludes Wilkerson.
And he left her body there. Police searched that area but never found her remains.

Website for Masumi
http://findmasumi.squarespace.com/home/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Lankford

...The jury found Lankford guilty of second-degree murder.( murder of Masumi Watanabe)[4] At his sentencing hearing, Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto referred to Lankford as a "predator" and sentenced him to life imprisonment.[5] Peter Carlisle, the city prosecutor, asked the parole board for 120-years minimum imprisonment.[6]

Click to expand...

I lost the link, but if I read correctly he is serving 150 years.

North American Missing Persons Network

http://www.nampn.org/cases/watanabe_masumi.html

Project Jason

http://projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=4724.0

:bump: for Masumi, missing 6 years next week.

January 2016: http://khon2.com/2016/01/14/man-arrested-for-murder-released-prosecutors-say-not-enough-evidence/
Brief mention of Masumi's case in this news story
January 2015, from The Hawaii Herald: Masumi Watanabe Is Remembered
July 2014: http://khon2.com/2014/07/15/in-court-proving-a-murder-occurred-even-when-theres-no-body/
Brief mention of Masumi's case here, too.

February 2014: Killer of Japanese visitor could walk free

The Hawaii Paroling Authority has set a new hearing date for Lankford “to make proper what was not done properly the first time,” said chair Bert Matsuoka. When the previous parole board set Lankford’s 150-year minimum sentence, they were also supposed to submit a written justification for surpassing the longest minimum sentence of 50 years. Because that justification was never submitted, Lankford is getting a new hearing.

Click to expand...