180. Lindsay Ann Hawker: No Way Out - Tragedy and Terror in Tokyo, Japan - Reverie True Crime

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:24):
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Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hello and welcome to Reverie True Crime. I'm your host page.
She was young, smart and full of life, a twenty
two year old English teacher living abroad chasing a dream
in Japan. But in March two thousand and seven, Lindsay

(01:00):
Ann Hawker vanished. What followed was every family's nightmare and
a nation's obsession. This is the story of Lindsay, the
horror she faced, the silence that followed, and her family's
relentless search to find the truth during a two year

(01:21):
manhunt that tested the limits of justice. Let's get into it.
Lindsay Anne Hawker was born on December thirtieth, nineteen eighty four,
to her parents Bill and Julia Hawker in Warwickshire, England.
Growing up, she attended the King Henry the Eighth School

(01:44):
in Coventry until two thousand and three. She was a
very popular and friendly student. Later, she would graduate with
a first class degree in biology from the University of Leeds.
At first, she thought about pursuing her master's degree, but
she thought about it and decided to do something else first.

(02:07):
In October two thousand and six, she expanded her horizons
and moved to Japan to teach English at the International
Nova Language School in Tokyo in the city of Kiawai.
It's the biggest English learning school in the world, with
offices worldwide that provide English language teachers to schools in Japan.

(02:30):
Many of the teachers are fresh out of universities and
may not have teaching experience. Lindsay shared an apartment with
two other foreign teachers and they hit it off well,
becoming really good friends quickly. On March twentieth, two thousand
and seven, Lindsay was unlocking her bicycle outside of a

(02:52):
train station to go home when a twenty eight year
old man named Tatsuyai Ishi Haishi came up to her
out of nowhere. He told her that she was his
English teacher, asking if she remembered him according to a witness,
and she was puzzled knowing he wasn't a student of hers.

(03:15):
It was awkward, to say the least, but it got
even weirder. She thought she could shrug him off and
make her way to her apartment, which was ten minutes away. However,
he followed behind her as she cycled away. The faster
she peddled, the faster his pace became. Tatsuya was even

(03:38):
trying to talk to her as he chased her all
the way home. He asked her to be his private
English teacher, and she respectfully said she couldn't due to
her schedule being jam packed already. After all of that running,
Tatsuya was a little parched, or so he claimed, asking

(03:59):
if he could go inside for a glass of water.
Even though she felt extremely uneasy about it, she obliged.
Lindsey figured since her roommates were there, she would be
safer and he would see that she didn't live alone. Inside,
he sketched her portrait, signing it with his name, phone number,

(04:21):
and email address. He said that she should teach him
at nine am that upcoming Sunday, the twenty fifth of March.
She reluctantly agreed because he offered to pay her generously,
which she needed, and after all, he seemed to really
want the lessons, and she didn't want to let anyone

(04:43):
down who wanted to learn. They arranged to meet for
an English lesson at a cafe. Private lessons were against
school rules, but she couldn't pass up the monetary opportunity
or the chance to do what she loved teach and
help others. Lindsay's friends and colleagues over the next few

(05:06):
days did not feel good about her decision to give
Tatsuya private lessons because they were suspicious of his behavior,
but Lindsay felt he was eager to learn, and teaching
someone who had that kind of attitude about learning was
important to her. On March twenty fifth, two thousand and seven,

(05:27):
Lindsay met Tatsuya at a cafe. Afterward, they took a
taxi to his apartment in Ichikawa City. Lindsay asked the
driver to wait, but after several minutes, when Lindsay didn't
come back out, he left. Lindsay's loved ones became concerned
when they hadn't heard from her through Skype calls, Facebook, email,

(05:52):
phone calls or texts. She kept in touch with her family,
her boyfriend Ryan Garside, and friends back home constantly, so
when the communication stopped, they knew something was off. When
Lindsay failed to show up for work the next day,
her employer reported her missing. Her roommates had also reported

(06:16):
her missing when they couldn't get in touch with her
through texts and calls. The last message Lindsey sent to
her boyfriend Ryan was on March twentieth, saying, quote, love
you lots. Don't worry about the guy who chased me home.
It's just crazy Japan. Miss you xxx. On Sunday, March

(06:39):
twenty fifth, Ryan sent her a message quote get in touch,
you fool. Why don't you ever email? Her older sister,
Lisa had heard the news of an earthquake in Japan.
Worried about her little sister. She sent a message on
the twenty fifth saying, quote, she referring to their mom

(07:02):
is very, very worried that you might have been injured.
Can you call or something. On March twenty sixth, police
visited Tatsuya's apartment in Ichikawa City after they were given
his memento he had left in Lindsay and her roommate's
apartment in the town of Funabashi. They were going over

(07:25):
to his apartment to see if he knew where she
was and to ask basic questions. They weren't really expecting
for things to unfold as they did. When they arrived.
He took everyone by surprise as he fled barefoot and
escaped right under nine police officers' noses. He burst between

(07:48):
two officers at the door and outran the others. Authorities
wasted no time issuing a warrant for his arrest. Like
I said, this was shocking to them because they were
simply going there to ask if he knew where Lindsay
went after she left there, or if she was still

(08:09):
hanging out. Then inside his apartment, what they discovered was
unbelievable and horrific. They found Lindsey's nude body in his bathtub.
The bathtub was not in the bathroom where you would
obviously expect it to be. The tub had been dismantled

(08:32):
and pulled out onto his fourth floor balcony, and it
was filled with a mixture of dirt, sand, chemicals, and composts.
With one of her hands protruding out of the dirt.
She had been bound, gagged, beaten horribly, and her head
had been shaved. It was speculated that he may have

(08:54):
been prepping to bury her in concrete, or planning to
plant flowers in the bath to speed up decomposition. Even More,
police found her purse and passport in the apartment. As
Tatsuyai was fleeing the scene, he dropped a backpack full
of clothes, indicating he had a plan, maybe even before

(09:17):
he realized police were there, to ditch the scene and
try to run from it all. Police said they also
found a shopping cart and Tatsuya's shed, believed to be
what he used to get the dirt to his place
from a nearby garden center, where he also likely purchased

(09:38):
the synthetic resin rope that he bound her wrists and
legs with. Chief investigator Yoshihiro Sida stated quote, the bathtub
was left out on the balcony and the corpse was
left there in the bathtub. Furthermore, the corpse was covered
with dirt as if to hide it. Police also did

(10:01):
not know the cause of death at that time, or
if she had been sexually assaulted, but told newspapers that
her face and upper arms were covered in bruises from
how horribly she had been beaten. There were no signs
of stab wounds, but her clothes were found ripped up
inside the apartment back home in Warwickshire. Her uncle said quote,

(10:27):
we are absolutely distraught. It's a terrible thing to have happened,
and the family is in bits At the moment. We
have very little detail about what led to Lindsay's death
and we are obviously desperate to find out more. Chief
Inspector Dale Pritchard of Warwickshire Police made a statement on

(10:49):
behalf of the family quote they are in a terrible position,
one in which no one would ever want to be.
They just want to be left alone to manage their grief.
A spokesperson for the Nova Language School said quote, Lindsay
took her job very seriously and put every effort into it.

(11:14):
She was trying so hard to get used to Japan.
It is extremely regrettable that such an incident should occur.
We pledge our full cooperation with the investigation. People who
knew and loved Lindsay steadily showed up at her parents'
home the next day with flowers and condolences, sharing with

(11:37):
them how much they adored their daughter. George Fisher, the
headmaster at King Henry the Eighth School in Coventry, said
of Lindsay quote, I knew Lindsay well. She was a
very popular student and the staff are devastated. Not only
were flowers and gifts being left at her family home

(12:00):
in Warwickshire, but also outside of the block of flats
where Lindsay was discovered. One of the cards someone left
said simply we love you Lindsey. On March twenty seventh,
Lindsay's dad, Bill and her boyfriend Ryan were on a
flight to Japan to identify her body and take her

(12:23):
back home to be laid to rest. Tats Yuya, of course,
was the prime suspect. He came from a very rich family.
His dad was a brain surgeon and his mother was
a dentist. They bought the apartment for him when he
was only four years old, and they had only moved

(12:44):
away a few years before all of this happened. The
media in Japan called him a quote doctor's pampered son,
and reported that in two thousand and four he had
stolen a wallet from a man in an internet cafe
as far as what was reported, Tatsuyai had never had

(13:06):
a job, and he was a loner who stayed in
his apartment most of the time. He also studied horticulture.
One of Lindsay's friends said, quote, Lindsay studied botany, and
that was his bit of luck. They had a shared interest.
Tatsuyai was a big fan of very graphic manga cartoons,

(13:30):
and police started looking into the possibility that he committed
this heinous act to copy a storyline from one of them.
Former friends of his also said he quote had a
thing for foreign women. He spoke good English, and he
was the head of an exchange group of Japanese and

(13:50):
foreign students at Shiba University east of Tokyo, where he
studied horticultural science and graduated. While he was dedicated to
his studies and a good student, there were also red
flags that showed he could be a problem. In his
graduation book, he wrote that his best lasting memory was

(14:13):
quote peeping into a female bathroom on a school trip.
People who knew Tatsuya described him as becoming oyed during
his final years at Shiba University, and that he had
been stalking a female student in the Horticulture Department. Only
two or three days later. Rumors already begun to circulate

(14:37):
that Lindsay and Tatsuya were an item, but her family
denied those rumors quickly, letting everyone know that was completely false.
It was not unusual for teachers to give private English
lessons because they were only being paid around fifteen thousand
pounds a year back in the early two thousands for

(15:00):
over twenty five classes a week, which would be around
nineteen to twenty thousand US dollars a year. Her dad
also said she was tricked into giving him private lessons.
A friend said one of the reasons she did this
private lesson was to get a little more money to
save to go back to Britain. A fellow English teacher

(15:24):
at NOVA said quote, she was stalked. That's the truth.
Her only crime is that she was a little bit
naive in a country where she fit the stereotype of
a tall, beautiful Western girl. Lindsay had two sisters, Louise,
who was twenty and Lisa, who was twenty six. They

(15:46):
spoke out on the twenty eighth of March during a
very emotional tribute near Coventry, with Lisa saying quote, Lindsay
was our best friend. She was intelligent and beautiful in
so many ways, and she would drop everything to help someone.
She made so many people smile. She wanted to see

(16:08):
the world, but she felt safer in Japan than in
this country. Here we are made aware of the dangers
on our own streets. Every year, thousands of young people travel,
and for some reason, the dangers of home seem to
be forgotten. If Lindsey's death can make at least one

(16:30):
young person more vigilant, then perhaps another family can be
spared the pain, devastation and despair that we are all experiencing.
Louise said quote, our family has been torn apart by this.
You never think anything like this could happen to you,

(16:51):
but we are normal people and it does, and it
hurts more than you could imagine. In the Daily Telegraph
news paper, Colin Joyce's column was placed under a piece
about Lindsey, saying that women who go to Japan often
feel wowed by how safe the streets seemed to be. However,

(17:14):
people who are more familiar with the country say they
would never let their guard down. Despite the violent crime
rates being low, many Japanese women refused to hang their
laundry outside on a clothesline, because a big problem, at
least back in the early two thousands was that men

(17:36):
would steal their undergarments. Colin continued to say that the
trains were plagued by gropers who even worked in groups
at times during the busiest hours of transportation. Tokyo's train
companies had or maybe still have, women only train rides.

(17:57):
The main victims of these sexual assaults are Japanese schoolgirls.
Western women who work in Japan as hostesses are also
made aware that their work can make them vulnerable targets.
The majority of women from Western countries who work in
Japan are not there legally, according to this column, Therefore,

(18:22):
they likely would not feel comfortable about going to the police.
There are also a ton of cartoon books and things
of that nature read openly on trains which portray women
in a way that most people would see as pornographic.
Despite all of that, Colin wrote that many women from

(18:43):
Britain actually do feel like they're safer walking to and
from the train stations alone at night in Tokyo than
they do in their own country. Twenty one year old
Ryan Garside, Lindsey's boyfriend, opened up while in Japan about
how she was quote the best thing in my life.

(19:05):
They had been together for four years, and the two
had been discussing saving money while she was in Japan
and traveling the world together. He also said quote, I
loved her so so much. We planned to one day
get married and start a family. He has ruined all

(19:25):
of our dreams. Lindsay's dad, Bill, during a press conference,
held a picture of his beloved daughter, talking about how
she was so passionate about being a teacher and had
always wanted to be one. Lindsay had even researched Japan
and looked into the dangers to be aware of quote,

(19:49):
My daughter did not come here to be murdered. We
were so proud that Lindsay came to Japan to be
a teacher. My wife and I and our younger daughter
came to Japan after Christmas, and Lindsey showed us where
she worked and lives. Before coming to Japan. We agreed
it was a safe place. She was a lovely girl

(20:12):
who would help anyone, and because of that she is
where she is now. I believe the suspect was a loner,
some sort of misfit who targeted my daughter. As Bill
held tightly onto her picture, he said quote, I will
carry this photograph of my daughter forever. I will not

(20:35):
rest until the man who killed her is caught. Everyone
who spoke about her only had great things to say.
Words like intelligent, caring, outrageous, and fun came up often.
One of her closest friends, named Ash said she was

(20:56):
quote hard not to love on a Facebook profile that
he made in remembrance of her. Quote, My memories of
Lindsey are of a big, beaming smile, a cute yet
strange accent, and a whole array of jokes, some of
which left you chuckling for days, some of which sent

(21:19):
giant tumbleweeds down the biology corridors. Charlotte Hanson, a friend
who attended Leeds University with Lindsay, said quote, I considered
her to be a friend for life. We studied biology together.
She was an intelligent, stunning, friendly girl. As much as

(21:41):
she loved Japan, Lindsay had confided in one of her
friends that she worked with, thirty year old Toby Wheeler,
that she was wanting to leave Japan in the near
future due to quote creepy men. On the twenty ninth
of March. It was reported that the chief and vas instigator,
Yoshihiro Sida, said, even though this was being handled as

(22:05):
a murder case, Tatsuya was only wanted to come in
for questioning about abandoning a dead body. Also, a police
spokesman revealed Lindsay's cause of death. According to her autopsy
report quote, she was either strangled or smothered to death.

(22:26):
They also estimated she could have been beaten for up
to thirty six hours at most. It wouldn't be until
a long time later that it would be publicly released
that she was raped as well before being what reporters
later would say wasn't smothered, but indeed strangled. That same day,

(22:49):
twenty police officers rated the hotel's chateau a quote love
hotel in Nishifunabashi, which is east of Tokyo. Rooms were
rented by the hour there and it was known as
a sex hotel. Someone reported spotting Tatsuya there After an

(23:10):
extensive search, which was aired on television in Japan, police
left the scene with frustration. Instead of the killer, new
information surfaced over the next few days in the news.
It was a possibility that Tatsuya stopped Lindsay for weeks
before he made his move. He was a customer of

(23:33):
a little bar slash restaurant that was right across from
a bar where Lindsay and her friends hung out.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
There is a.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Possibility that he spotted her there and had been tracking
her movements for who knows how long. There was also
speculation that he ran away and was now doing sex work.
Police did clear up reports that claimed Tatsuya had pornographic
magazines and videos everywhere. According to them, that simply was

(24:06):
not the case. Yes, he was a fan of pornographic cartoons,
but not in such an outrageous way as the media
tried to twist it. There was a lot of sensationalism
and lies throughout this case that were constantly having to
be corrected, as if the real story itself wasn't ugly enough.

(24:31):
Over one hundred officers were part of the man hunt
for Lindsay's killer. They were getting a lot of tips
from people who claimed to see him, and they showed
up at all the locations, but they always left empty handed.
Days went by and still no signs of Tatsuya, despite
his face being plastered all over television and newspapers every

(24:56):
single day. People assumed a unless he took his own
life somewhere, that someone must have been helping him hide.
Lindsay's dad, Bill spoke out again in a statement read
on his behalf by British Ambassador Graham Fry, quote, my
daughter loved Japan. She loved meeting the Japanese people, and

(25:21):
thought of Japan as an honorable society built on trust
and respect. My daughter's killer has now brought shame on
your country. He must be caught. He cannot be allowed
to hide away. I know you place great importance on
family and community links, so as a father, I appeal

(25:44):
to you. If anyone can help the police to find
my daughter's killer, I beg you to come forward. The
British ambassador added a statement of his own, quote, we
are grateful that the Japanese are authorities are doing all
they can, but they will need the help of the
Japanese public to catch the criminal. So I echo the

(26:08):
appeal made by Lindsay's father for anyone who can help,
please please come forward. As the investigation unfolded, CCTV footage
was released showing Lindsay with Tatsuya on March twenty fifth
at a cafe just a few hours before she was

(26:29):
lured to her untimely death. They were talking at the
checkout counter and everything looked totally normal. He paid their
tab and as another camera at a different angle showed,
they got into a taxi together to go to his home.
There was also CCTV footage of the two which came

(26:51):
out later, of them on an elevator at the apartment block.
Days turned into weeks, and there wasn't any movement in
the case. Even the suspect's family was quiet until late
May of two thousand and seven, when Tatsuya's father spoke
out to give a message to Lindsay's family. Quote, when

(27:15):
we heard what happened to your daughter, we were at
a loss and were shocked. It is so regrettable that
this happened. We wish to express our sorrow. We hope
your daughter is at peace and that our son will
atone for his crime as soon as possible. Lindsay's dad,

(27:35):
Bill told the paper quote, his family hasn't offered any
help toward the capture of their son. On June thirtieth,
two thousand and seven, Lindsay's younger sister, Louise, was in
Tokyo with her mom and dad to meet with the
police and appeal for information from the public. Bill made

(27:56):
it known before they went back to Japan that he
was really concerned about how there was a huge lack
of information when it came to the investigation. However, after
contact and discussions between the Japanese and Warwickshire police, he
shared that he was glad the case was still being

(28:17):
handled as a very high priority. Bill thanked the Japanese
police who gave him his word that they would find
and capture his daughter's killer. They would not give up.
Louise said that the fact that Tatsuyai had a bag
packed and was not expecting police to come by that

(28:40):
he wasn't aiming to run away from this at all.
She said he had other plans. Quote, he had no
intention of leaving that apartment. He was intending to live
there the rest of his life with the body and
to plant something in that dirt. When he fled. The
bag he had was to go to the gym so

(29:03):
he could bathe, since the bathtub from his apartment had
been dragged onto the balcony. Even a dog doesn't deserve
to be treated in that way, least of all a
gentle natured person like my sister. This was pure evil
and he clearly has no remorse if he could happily
live there with a body on his balcony, probably as

(29:26):
some sort of trophy. Police told the family Tatsuyai bought
the dirt to rush the decomposition process of the body.
At this point, everyone involved in the case started to
believe that he must have committed suicide because his face
was too well known in all of Japan by that

(29:49):
point due to the consistent coverage with his picture everywhere.
Despite feeling that might be the case, Bill offered a
reward of one million yen which is today a little
over five thousand pounds and almost seven thousand US dollars
for any information leading to the arrest of his daughter's killer.

(30:13):
They had a website which is now defunct, for people
to send in tips anonymously at Lindseyannhawker dot com, and
a T shirt campaign took off. The shirts had Tatsuya's
picture on them with the quote I won't sleep until
he is caught. Later, the reward would go as high

(30:35):
as ten million yen, which was around one hundred ten
US dollars and around eighty two thousand pounds at the time.
During their appeal to the public, Bill said, quote, he
was a misfit and a loaner, distanced from his family.
He was from the exact opposite end of the scale

(30:57):
as my daughter, who was loved and respected, and who
loved working in Japan. She came here to help people,
not to be murdered. End quote. A few months later,
in September, it had been almost a year since Lindsay's
family was at the airport with her, saying their farewells,

(31:19):
wishing her safe travels to Japan with a positive outlook
on her upcoming ventures. Bill stood in that same terminal
nearly a year later with his sister and Julia's best friend,
handing out pamphlets to travelers flying to Tokyo from Heathrow,

(31:40):
while wearing a shirt with Tatsuya's picture on it that
simply said murderer above it and the website below. The
pamphlets had a picture of Lindsay's killer with this message
in English and Japanese quote, Lindsay was a beautiful girl
who did not deserve to die. She had her whole

(32:01):
life ahead of her, and her family now urges you
to help them get justice for Lindsey. When you arrive
in Japan, please remember the suspect's face and if you
see him or anything suspicious, please report it to the
police in Japan. Bill told the media quote, my daughter's

(32:24):
murderer is still out there. Who knows he could be
planning his next victim. But as a family we have
pulled together. We want justice for Lindsey, which any father,
any mother, and any sisters would want. He talked about
how hard it was to think about how he waved

(32:47):
goodbye to her about twelve months prior, and dealing with
the realization that his beautiful baby was never coming back.
He didn't want to criticize the Japanese police just yet.
There was no denying that incoming information about the case
was slowing down to a halt. However, the Chief Constable

(33:10):
of Warwickshire Police had recently gone to Japan to devote
a day to the case, and Bill was waiting for
a briefing from him. One tiny little thing that could
possibly be a gigantic piece of evidence would be the
memory card that was missing from Lindsay's camera. The CCTV

(33:31):
footage might have looked normal to most people, but to Bill,
it didn't he fears Tatsuya possibly drugged her drink at
the cafe, and added quote, I have the awful images
of the pair of them getting out of the taxi,
and she seems to follow him, not looking herself. March

(33:54):
twenty fifth, two thousand and eight, arrived, marking one year
since their daughter was murdered, with no justice still. Bill
and Julia, with their daughters, went to Tokyo to hold a
news conference for another appeal to the public to come
forward with anything they might know. He said, quote, I

(34:15):
wish to appeal to the honorable people of Japan to
help me find Tatsuya Ishihashi, the only suspect in the
murder of Lindsay. Somebody must be helping ishi Hashi. How
can he keep evading detection. Japan is a modern society.
Surely he cannot just disappear in this country. As he

(34:38):
had Lindsay's picture in his hand, the same one he
carried every day since her death. He continued, quote, she
came to this country, she loved this country, and she
was here to teach not to be murdered. Please help us.
Lindsay's sister Lisa, spoken Japanese directly to the killer quote

(35:04):
Tatsuya Ishihashi, you have taken one life and destroyed many more.
You have taken away my best friend and broken our hearts.
I implore you please atone for your crime. Bill also
added quote, I hope he is dead. I hope he

(35:25):
suffered for a long time, but I don't think that
he has committed suicide because he loves himself too much.
They were also going to meet with the police that
day to be updated about any progress made in the investigation.
They were grateful that one hundred and forty officers were

(35:46):
still assigned and active in Lindsay's case, still following up
on hundreds of leads and possible sightings all over Japan,
but there were certain details that they felt were held
on too for too long before being released publicly. One
thing they felt could have helped early on is the

(36:07):
fact that police found a lot of wigs in Tatsuya's
apartment and could have narrowed the search if people had
been aware that he could be wearing a wig or
disguise of some kind. Bill and the family went to
the street where Lindsay was killed, handing out pamphlets to
ramp up the awareness again as well to amplify her

(36:31):
case more In Japan, Lindsay's family and friends were planning
to go to Jiotiku and hold a vigil at one
of her favorite bars, the Hippy Dippy Dow. The Hawkers
were really upset with Tatsuya's parents, Stomi and Masioshi. They
both since left their medical practices and only spoke that

(36:55):
one time to the family and the statement read earlier.
Another year passed with no answers on her death date.
In two thousand and nine, Lindsey's family was starting to
get really fed up with the police for not catching
the murderer. At that point, Tatsuya would be thirty years

(37:17):
old and nobody knew where he was or if he
was even alive. His wanted posters were still posted everywhere
throughout Japan. How did no one seem to know anything
at all? The family began to have more questions. They
had been thinking of so many things over the last

(37:40):
two years. Julia stated to reporters, quote, there was one
question that we all as a family asked ourselves on
that day, and the same question keeps arising every single
day of our lives. Why would somebody want to murder her?
Why did nine police go to the apartment on the

(38:02):
night she was murdered. And why did they wait outside
so long before trying to go in? Why and how
did the nine policemen then let one barefoot man escape
from the apartment. More importantly, why now two years on
haven't they caught him? Bill told reporters, quote, how many

(38:27):
more times as a family do we have to return
to Japan? And how many more pleased do we have
to make before this evil man is caught. Even though
police told the Hawker family they were closing in on Tatsiya,
they provided no information whatsoever to explain anything, But they

(38:49):
had no idea that soon they'd find out everything. On
November sixth, two thousand and nine, information began to slowly
come out about Tatsuya and how he was evading police.
Was finally known. He was in Osaka two weeks prior

(39:10):
at a medical clinic to get two moles which people
could notice and possibly identify him by, on the left
side of his face removed. But that was not all.
He also had a lower lip reduction. The patient believed
to be Tatsuya, provided a fake name and address, paying

(39:32):
for these procedures in cash. He never went back to
get the stitches taken out. Police believed this was possibly
only the latest surgery he could have had. A photo
was made digitally to show what he likely looked like
at that time post operations. His mother even pleaded on

(39:55):
Japanese television broadcast to turn himself in. Tips from the
cosmetic surgery clinic and an Osaka construction company where he
had been living in a company dorm under the guise
of a construction worker steadily piling up money for the surgeries,

(40:16):
led to his arrest. On November tenth, two thousand and nine,
only four days after reports were made about his possible surgeries.
He was trying to board a ferry to Okinawa when
an emergency call was made. The digital photo that was
created compared to what he actually looked like, was luckily

(40:39):
spot on, and he was recognized almost immediately. But just wait,
It truly does get crazier regarding the links that he
went to to avoid arrest and accountability. The staff at
the second clinic he went to called the police after
taking a lot of pictures of him with the awful

(41:01):
traces on his cheek where he had tried to remove
the moles himself, and it looked really strange to them,
He reportedly told police, quote, I am I Shiyashi. Looking
at his before and after pictures, it is clear how
he was able to evade police for so long. He

(41:25):
looked like a completely different person. He had also had
cheek implants done and had stolen the identity of a
deceased person, Kaisuki in a way. Tatsuya had also undergone
surgeries to narrow and put a raise in the bridge
of his nose and alter the shape of his eyes,

(41:47):
and wore glasses. He was so unidentifiable that the police
had to confirm it was in fact Tatsuya through analyzing
his fingerprints. A spokeswoman for the police said, quote, we
are glad and relieved that the only suspect in this

(42:07):
case has been found and is now in police custody.
Lindsey's family was immediately contacted. Bill told the news quote,
it has just been such a long, long journey. I
can visit my daughter's grave tomorrow morning and tell her
that her killer has finally been caught. He added that

(42:31):
he would be making a trip back to Japan as
soon as he possibly could, because quote, I have always
said that I want to look Ishihashi in the eyes myself.
A few days later, when giving a phone interview, he
was sobbing, saying, quote, my nightmare is finally over. Telling

(42:53):
another news outlet quote, the battle is over. We've worked
tirelessly as a family. We've never given in. We wanted justice,
and we finally got justice. At first, Tatsuya was only
charged with suspicion of abandoning a body, but it was

(43:13):
certain he would face murder charges soon. His father, Masiyoshi
addressed him in an interview, saying, quote, you committed a crime.
You must be brought to justice. I want you to
atone for what you did. At first, he remained silent

(43:34):
and denied raping, beating, and murdering Lindsey, with one of
his lawyers telling the district court in early June of
twenty ten, quote, it is true that Ishi Haaishi's actions
caused Lindsay's death, but he had no intention of killing her.
They also said he would plead guilty to raping her,

(43:58):
causing injury, resisting in death, and unlawfully disposing of her body.
A few months later, on October tenth, twenty ten, it
was reported that Tatsuyai wrote a letter to the Hawker
family trying to convince them that he did not purposefully
strangle her and would not plead guilty to murder, the

(44:21):
sentence being the death penalty if found guilty. However, he
wrote in the same letter that he was evil. Quote,
there is no one to blame but me. I will
take responsibility. I will never forget about her and what
I did to her and you. I will carry my

(44:43):
cross until the moment of my death. I am very sorry.
I not only destroyed her life, but I also changed
your lives. What I did to her and you will
never be forgiven. I was evil. I did not understand
if it was real at the time. I imagine she

(45:04):
would come back to life. I imagined she would come
back like nothing happened. He said he accidentally crushed her
windpipe while trying to stop her from crying so loudly.
Pleading guilty to the other charges, he would only get
a sentence of anywhere between three to twenty years. Bill

(45:26):
and Julia rejected the four page letter that he wrote
because to them, it was simply a game for him.
He needed to write that letter to try to get
leniency at his trial, which was coming up in twenty eleven.
You see defendants in Japan will usually get a lesser

(45:47):
sentence if the victim's family happens to forgive them or
show them sympathy. The Hawkers were not about to let
that happen. Lindsey did not get a second chance or sympathy,
nor would he. Julia told The Times quote, he was
trying to escape and to change what he looked like

(46:09):
with plastic surgery, and to remain free for the rest
of his life. We just want justice for Lindsay, and
we have faith in the Japanese justice system. There isn't
any point in him or his defense team getting in
touch with us. While waiting behind bars on his trial,

(46:30):
Tatsuya wrote a book called Until I was Arrested. It
has no mention of Lindsay's tragic end or his motive,
but it was about the two and a half years
he was on the run, or, as his lawyer said, quote,
a declaration of his contrition, his remorse and regrets. There

(46:54):
isn't an English version of the book that I have found,
but here and there you'll find a few things translated
or described about the book. Apparently it was about how
he spent that time on a secluded island in Okinawa
and the surgeries he had gotten to make him look
like someone else completely. One part talks about how during

(47:18):
those two and a half years, he quote apologized in
his heart to Lindsey, but he had to do everything
he could because he knew the authorities would not grant
him mercy. He offered any money he made from the
book to be given to her family, but of course
they wanted absolutely nothing to do with it, and they

(47:41):
said they had no intention of accepting any payment. Now,
people who are incarcerated are not allowed to make money
from their illegal doings, but Tatsuya did not believe his
book broke any of those rules, and he was within
his legal run. However, he wrote in the book quote

(48:05):
I took Lindsay's life. That fact does not change. I
was so scared I ran away. He even told how
he tried doing the surgeries on himself, first using scissors
to cut his bottom lip, attempting to make it slimmer,
and dug into his own cheek to rid his face

(48:26):
of those two moles with a box cutter, and tried
to give himself a nose job with a thread and needle,
described in reports quote like a cook trusting a piece
of meat. When he first escaped, he laid low in
Tokyo until it started to get a little too hot

(48:48):
in the kitchen, and he fled north to Omori Prefecture.
While there, he tried to give himself a lip reduction,
but the pain was so intense he couldn't complete the
job the first time. The next time he tried, he
went to a public restroom and finished it off the

(49:09):
best he could. He would wear multiple surgical masks so
no one could see those scars. The surgical masks weren't
odd to anyone because it was springtime and many people
in Japan wear those masks due to polland Tatsuya claimed.

(49:29):
He then traveled by train and bus to go on
a crusade around temples in the southwestern island of Shikoku,
wishing Lindsay would quote come back to life. Now, why
did he keep claiming he had this idea of Lindsey
coming back from the dead. He thought that or at

(49:51):
least got the idea and was claiming it because of
a novel he read where the deceased were brought back
to life after someone who was thinking of them towards
those very same temples. Maybe he really believed it, or
maybe he thought it would sound good to write and
that no one would realize it happened in a novel.

(50:15):
He also drew pictures throughout the book. One depicted himself
in a baseball cap and wearing a surgical mask. Describing
another aspect of evading capture, he talked about how he
had to get around cameras on the streets and in
stores and avoid making eye contact with people. He was

(50:38):
steadily on the move, paranoid he was being spotted everywhere,
and never even attempted to get in touch with any
family or friends to be on the safe side. When
he first saw himself on TV after the tip from
the cosmetic surgeon's clinic, he said his heart was racing

(50:59):
as he gave at the news report, shaking. From that point,
he said, he quickly checked out of the hotel where
he was staying, got a haircut, and even purchased a
little disguise package that came with a beard, sideburns, and
a mustache. He said that during his time on the

(51:20):
island he lived off of fruit, fish and snakes. After
he had been apprehended, though, he began refusing to eat,
but he said quote I could not die. Tatsuya also
complained all the time about how he was discriminated against
and not treated the same as others, like being unable

(51:43):
to have his own belongings, and how he was more
restricted as to where he could and couldn't go in
the detention center where he was being held. On July third,
twenty eleven, Lindsey's family took off to Japan for tatsi
Ya's trial, where they were going to provide evidence and

(52:04):
they would get their chance to look him in the
eyes and question him. They'd even get to voice their
opinion about whatever sentence he received. Bill told reporters, quote,
we are traveling to Tokyo today for the trial of Ishihashi,
and we are hoping to get justice for our daughter.
That has always been our aim. By the next day, Bill, Julia, Louise,

(52:30):
and Lisa were face to face with Lindsay's killer. One
of their friends told reporters quote, they will be there
until the end of the trial. Although they are obviously
very apprehensive about facing the accused in court. It's going
to be very difficult for them to see this man.

(52:52):
One of the questions they had about why he and
Lindsay were at the cafe and then went to his
apartment had been answered. Lindsay gave him a private English
lesson in the cafe, but he just so happened not
to have his wallet. He persuaded her to take a

(53:12):
taxi over to his place so he could give the
money to her once he got her alone, admitting he
quote selfishly wanted to be intimate with her. He punched
her in the face, bound her wrists, beat and raped
her over the span of thirty six hours, before strangling

(53:32):
her to death and shaving her head at some point
as well. On July fourth, twenty eleven, the courtroom was
full when Tasia came in and immediately fell to his knees,
bowing over and over. Later, he cried after denying that
he murdered Lindsay, saying quote, I did not intend to

(53:57):
kill her, but I am responsible for her death. I
am very sorry for what I did. All of his
six lawyers were defending him pro bono, but it was
to make it easier to persuade him during his hunger strike.
To just make it through this trial, the attorney sent

(54:20):
several letters to his family wanting to know if they
would testify on behalf of their son. They did not
respond and did not show up to testify. Tatsuya said
of this quote, I was the one who raped Lindsey.
I was the one who put her through a scary

(54:40):
experience and took her life. He was asked to talk
about what he thought when it came to the charges
of rape resulting in death and murder, as well as
abandoning a body. His reply was, quote, what happened that
day only I and miss lindsay, but because of my actions,

(55:02):
she is no longer able to speak ever again. It
is my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened
on that day, and throughout this trial, I will tell
the truth. Reporters noticed that Bill and Julia seemed disgusted
by every aspect of his demeanor, and Bill made sure

(55:24):
to stare angrily at him, while Julia couldn't help but
shake her head in disbelief. The more he spoke, he
seemed like he liked recalling what happened, as he described
in great detail how after the assault he selfishly wanted
to have sex with her, so he laid her down

(55:45):
on a mattress, where Lindsey then allegedly asked, quote, you're
going to kill me, aren't you. According to him, she
begged and pleaded for him to just let her go,
but he told her he couldn't do that. He began
to explain to her that the injuries were way too
extreme for him to be able to simply let her go.

(56:08):
Lindsay tried to get away, but when she took off,
running and crying out, he caught her and choked her
until he crushed her windpipe. Tatsuya also had some supporters.
The creator of a support group collecting money for his
trial was his former karate teacher, who said, quote, He's

(56:30):
not a monster. He's a young man who made a
terrible mistake. The prosecution laid everything out while Lindsay's parents
wept hearing the details of their daughter's last moments. Julia
could not help but break down when trying to tell
the court how haunted she had been by Lindsay's death,

(56:54):
and she was experiencing so much guilt about agreeing to
let Lindsey take that true to Japan, she said, quote,
when we heard that Lindsay had been murdered, we were
all totally devastated. We could not sleep or eat, and
I was terrified of letting my other two daughters out

(57:15):
of my sight. I blamed myself for letting her come here,
and I could not take a bath for two years.
We have a balcony and I cannot go on it anymore.
If I get into an elevator and someone strange steps in,
I have to step out. My two daughters, Lisa and Louise,

(57:38):
have lost their best friend, and I cannot find the
words to describe fully how this has affected our family.
When talking about how Tatsuya had offered the family all
the proceeds from his book, she called it strange and disrespectful,
adding quote, he would not have been able to write

(57:59):
about his life on the run had he not murdered
my daughter. I think he was making fun of the
Japanese police and authorities. Julia was asked what she would
deem a reasonable punishment for her daughter's killer. Her response
was quote, I do not think he should be shown

(58:19):
any mercy. He did not show my daughter any mercy,
and I think he should receive the maximum penalty. On
July twenty first, twenty eleven, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The judge acknowledged the severity of his crime, but noted
he had no prior convictions, and since he was only

(58:43):
thirty two years old. The judge talked about the possibility
of rehabilitation. Quote, perhaps he has a chance to make
a new start or to be corrected. Bill just shook
his head side to side as the judge went on, quote,
we can assume that the defendant had an intention to

(59:05):
murder the victim when he put pressure on her neck.
It is impossible to measure the victim's regret having to
end in such a devastating situation, her twenty two year
old wife that was filled with many possibilities. The defendant's
deed was vicious and committed for an extremely selfish motive.

(59:26):
He feared his rape may have been found out. The
defendant ran away for a long time and that hampered
work to get to the bottom of the case. His
criminal responsibility is very heavy. The victim was raped, with
her dignity violated and life taken away while going through

(59:47):
unbearable pain at age twenty two. Her future was taken away.
The defendant showed no respect to her life, and the
crime is heinous. Lindsay's family had hoped for the death penalty,
which would have resulted in him being hanged for his
crime against her, but they accepted the court's decision. Tatsuya

(01:00:12):
repeatedly bowed to Lindsey's parents as he was escorted out
of the courtroom. Bill told reporters quote, we've waited four
and a half years to get justice for Lindsey and
we have achieved that today and we are very pleased.
Lindsay loved Japan and you have not let her down.

(01:00:35):
He also talked about how their close family had no
clue how to approach them now, and they stopped going
out anywhere because they felt others just didn't know what
to say to them. It was so awkward for everyone.
Bill added quote, I take drugs to counter depression. I

(01:00:56):
feel constantly angry. They say time healed, but it doesn't
to make matters worse. In twenty fifteen, a movie based
on their daughter's killer's book was released called I Am
Ishihashi The Journal of a Killer. Lindsay's family released a

(01:01:18):
statement quote, the family were not consulted and would never
have given consent for this film to be made, and
want to remind people that Ishihashi is a convicted rapist
and murderer. The family considers this to be distasteful and
an insult to Lindsay's memory end quote. Tashiaki Nakazawa, the

(01:01:41):
producer of the movie, said, quote, we have not the
least intention to insult the victim as well as her family.
Thus we did carefully produce the film not to dishonor them.
The focus of the film is on the internal struggle
of the criminal who committed such horrible crime. It describes

(01:02:02):
the process of how his fear and sense of guilt
pushed him into a corner psychologically and the result that
he cannot get away with it in the end. In
July of twenty twenty three, Japan Today reported on an
ex convict who gave insight into Tatsuya's life in prison. Normally,

(01:02:27):
very little about life inside of Japan's prisons, ever, leaks
out to the world outside, so when someone gets out
and starts talking, people listen. A forty four year old
male recently paroled from Nagano Prison after serving the last
fourteen months of a two year sentence there, decided to

(01:02:49):
speak out. While serving his time in Nagano, the man
discovered that a high profile prisoner was there as well,
Tatsuya Ishiya. Nagano Prison houses two types of inmates. Class
A prisoners are mostly first time offenders. Class B includes

(01:03:10):
those with more serious or repeated offenses, including members of
organized crime groups. Ishi Hashi, who was forty four years
old at the time, is a Class B prisoner. The
ex convict, who wanted to conceal his real identity for
safety reasons, recalled that Tatsuya was assigned to work in

(01:03:34):
plant number ten, though he wasn't sure exactly what kind
of work was done there. A fellow inmate who had
also worked in the plant later transferred to the prison
laundry where the ex convict worked. That man told him
ichi Hashi mostly kept to himself, only interacting with people

(01:03:57):
he was comfortable around. There were rooms about Ishihashi's athleticism too.
The prison usually holds an annual sports meet, but at
the time some were canceled due to COVID. Still, the
ex convict would hear stories about Tatsiya's incredible speed on

(01:04:17):
the track, quote he was so fast during the relay
races that he outran everyone. The other prisoners even cheered
for him. The anonymous man said that at the laundry,
his job was to wash and sew inmate's clothing, underwear, socks, shirts,

(01:04:37):
and work wear. Each prisoner's clothes were marked with their
ID number. When Tatsuya's laundry came through, some inmates would
deliberately screw up the stitching on his tags as a
kind of petty act, letting them know they didn't like
him at all. But the anonymous male chose to do

(01:04:59):
the job. After a while, he noticed something interesting. About
two months in, Tatsuya began writing his name neatly spelled
out above his number on his laundry bag. The anonymous
ex convict took it as a quiet thank you, a
sign that Tatsuya had noticed the care he'd taken as

(01:05:23):
a comparison, when the x Khan entered prison, he deposited
one hundred thousand yen with the authorities to use for
personal needs like pens, paper, clothing, and other basics. By
the time he left, he had earned nineteen thousand, six
hundred sixty nine yen for his work in the laundry.

(01:05:46):
As for Ishihashi, nobody knows exactly how much he had
in his account, but the prison rumor mill said he
might have had around one million yen. This would not
be surprising other high profile criminals in Japan have received
donations from supporters. According to the Annan ex Khan, ishi

(01:06:11):
Hashi also seems to have a group of dedicated fans.
His parents reportedly visit him every month. The time they
spent with him, limited to thirty minutes per visit, was
deducted from his prison wages, but with his finances, ishi
Hashi didn't seem to mind. He was known to regularly

(01:06:34):
by fresh underwear and socks, and is said to rotate
through seven different sets of clothes, swiping out worn ones
for new items every month or two. As for his
chances of getting out early, under Japan's penal code, life
sentenced prisoners can be considered for parole after ten years.

(01:06:57):
In reality, though the weight is often much longer. In
twenty twenty one, only nine people across the entire country
were paroled out of the one thousand, seven hundred twenty
five inmates serving life sentences, less than point five percent.

(01:07:17):
On average, lifers spend about thirty two years and ten
months behind bars, so for Ishihashi, parole likely won't be
on the table for another two decades or more. Lindsey's
story is more than the headlines, more than the horror
of what was done to her. She was a daughter,

(01:07:40):
a sister, a friend, someone who wanted to teach, to explore,
and to make a difference. Her family's love for her
has never faded, and neither should our memory of her.
May we carry her name with care, and may her
story remind us to never overlook the humanity behind every tragedy.

(01:08:07):
Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode,
and until next time, friends, stay safe and take care.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Thank you for listening to this episode. As we close out,
let us not forget. Awareness is our greatest defense in
a world that can be dark and grim. Vigilance is
our beacon of hope when it comes to the cases
we have explored together that have remained unsolved. If you
happen to hold a piece of the puzzle, there to
step forward. As Arthur Lois McMaster bouge Hold once said,

(01:08:41):
the dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a
duty of the living to do so for them. Until
we reconvene, my friends, stay vigilant and stay informed.

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180. Lindsay Ann Hawker: No Way Out - Tragedy and Terror in Tokyo, Japan

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}180. Lindsay Ann Hawker: No Way Out - Tragedy and Terror in Tokyo, Japan