I know most of you will have never heard of her, but her death rattled all us foreigners living here in Japan.
She was a British girl living in Tokyo. She had come over for a year to teach English.
A Japanese guy stopped her on the street asking for lesssons. She gave him one English lesson in a coffee shop a few days later. That same day, he killed her in his apartment and left her body on his balcony.
It's a really creepy story and many of us foreign teachers were greatly affected by her death...because it could've happened to any one of us.
At the time of her death, I was giving 11 private classes apart from my regular job, going to people's home. I know it was stupid of me and I stopped them afterward. I was very lucky.
The police were tipped off about him, went to his place and found him leaving his apartment. The officers found her body and tried to chase after him. They lost him. And they haven't found him to this day.
It's frustrating and must make her family crazy to know that they had the man who killed their daughter in their hands, and they let him slip away.
I was asked to write an article for the Being A Broad magazine, who has tried to raise awareness and make her murderer's face known to everyone, in the hopes of catching him.
The article includes many quotes from her family. I thought it best to use their words mainly, rather than my own. They visited Japan last month also to help people not forget that their is a cold-blooded murderer free on the streets and asking for people to help.
I can't imagine what they must be feeling, nor would I even pretend to. While I was writing the story, I admit there were a few times my emotion got the better of me. Lindsay's story is such a sad one and the love her family had for her is so strong.
Although I've never met the Hawker family, since writing this article, I've had them in my prayers. I hope the police do catch her murderer so her family can finally rest and put closure on this nightmare.
This is indeed a sad story... it is wonderful that you took on the challenge to write about it.
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