GUILTY Canada - Natsumi Kogawa, 29, Vancouver, 7 Sept 2016

[Gardener1850]

Japanese student Natsumi Kogawa, 29, was last seen in downtown Vancouver last Wednesday, Sept. 7, and last made contact with friends in the area the following day.

“Kogawa is an experienced traveller studying English in Vancouver,” VPD spokesman Sgt. Brian Montague said in a statement Tuesday.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/police-seek-help-finding-missing-japanese-student

*4 ft 11 in with slim build
*Long brown hair and brown eyes
*may be carrying black backpack

 

[GeeEm]

Nothing really on her FB page either???

Found this from a newspaper :

Daily Hive Vancouver
2 hrs ·

VPD need the public's help in finding Natsumi Kogawa, a Japanese student studying in Vancouver. She hasn't been heard from since last week.
Vancouver Police looking for missing 29-year-old woman
Vancouver Police are looking for 29-year-old Natsumi Kogawa who has not been seen or heard from by her family or friends since Thursday, September 8.
DAILYHIVE.COM|BY DH VANCOUVER STAFF

Nothing new though

 

[Gardener1850]

Still missing (no new info but another news source): http://www.theprovince.com/news/loc...+missing+japanese+student/12191155/story.html

 

[slowpoke]

Please forgive me if the following link isn't allowed on WS, but there seems to be some more information there, including a missing person poster. http://pinfluencer.net/ryuugakusei/
Much of the page is in Japanese, but there is some English, too. Some of what I was able to garner:

She is actually age 30, not 29.
She is a Japanese national.
Their poster lists her heights as 155cm, which would equal 5ft 1in. (We've read 4ft 11in elsewhere)
The last message from her to her friend was at 11:30am on 9/8. Her friend sent her another message around 4:30, but Natsumi didn't respond.
She studied at the Kaplan language school from 5/2-7/22 (according to the missing person poster).
She was living in a shared house.
I think it says she is presumed to have her black backpack, iphone and wallet with her. Her phone was not enabled for calls, just wifi use.
Today, 9/14, from 2:00pm they are asking for volunteers to meet at the Vancouver Public Library to distribute fliers.

Also, here's a short news article on her including a video, however, it's entirely in Japanese. http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00336228.html

 

[Gardener1850]

Please forgive me if the following link isn't allowed on WS, but there seems to be some more information there, including a missing person poster. http://pinfluencer.net/ryuugakusei/
Much of the page is in Japanese, but there is some English, too. Some of what I was able to garner:

She is actually age 30, not 29.
She is a Japanese national.
Their poster lists her heights as 155cm, which would equal 5ft 1in. (We've read 4ft 11in elsewhere)
The last message from her to her friend was at 11:30am on 9/8. Her friend sent her another message around 4:30, but Natsumi didn't respond.
She studied at the Kaplan language school from 5/2-7/22 (according to the missing person poster).
She was living in a shared house.
I think it says she is presumed to have her black backpack, iphone and wallet with her. Her phone was not enabled for calls, just wifi use.
Today, 9/14, from 2:00pm they are asking for volunteers to meet at the Vancouver Public Library to distribute fliers.

Also, here's a short news article on her including a video, however, it's entirely in Japanese. http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00336228.html

Thank you slowpoke! The video is in Japanese but there is a short phone call from someone speaking English in the middle of it. It seems her friends are very worried about her. Lots of new pictures of her on that video too.

 

[slowpoke]

Thank you slowpoke! The video is in Japanese but there is a short phone call from someone speaking English in the middle of it. It seems her friends are very worried about her. Lots of new pictures of her on that video too.

Oh, I didn't know there was some English in the video! I didn't have audio at the time, and made the assumption about it being all in Japanese. Sorry 'bout that!
I hope their friends' flier distribution and search yields clues today.

 

[Gardener1850]

Oh, I didn't know there was some English in the video! I didn't have audio at the time, and made the assumption about it being all in Japanese. Sorry 'bout that!
I hope their friends' flier distribution and search yields clues today.

Well the only reason I watched it is because I had a Japanese roommate in college and I wanted to see if I could make out anything they were saying. He spoke way too fast though and all I understood was "Thank you (in Japanese)". I hope they find Natsumi safe!

 

[Gardener1850]

VANCOUVER, CANADA (TR) – The Missing Persons Unit of the Vancouver Police Department is searching for a 30-year-old female Japanese exchange student who has been missing since last week, the department said in a release on Tuesday.

Natsumi Kogawa, who is studying English, was last seen in downtown Vancouver on September 7. Friends were last able to contact her on the following day at around 11:20 a.m.

A search of the residence where she lives did not reveal any signs that it had been ransacked, according to Fuji News Network (Sept. 15).

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2016/09/15/japanese-exchange-student-missing-in-vancouver/

 

[slowpoke]

Found a FIND NATSUMI KOGAWA page. Fortunately, it's in both Japanese and English.
https://www.facebook.com/findnatsumikogawa/

 

[Sillybilly]

It seems she may live or attend school in Burnaby (because the translation seems to indicate the file went from Burnaby RCMP to Vancouver PD which covers downtown Vancouver).

 

[Hotmud62]

Just a couple of points. It looks like Kaplan's courses are 20/24/32 weeks long. May 5 to July 22 is not a complete term. Did she not complete her studies for some reason? As a person on a student visa in Canada myself, they are not that easy to get and if for any reason you are found not to be following the terms of the visa I think they could be rescinded pretty easily. As for a shared living arrangement in Burnaby, that sounds very likely for someone of limited means. Tuition at Kaplan seems high, more than what I'm paying at UBC. The rental vacancy rate in Vancouver is about 0.5 percent. Renting a place to live here is an ordeal at best and worse particularly if you don't know much English (or French). Burnaby is the nearest easternmost suburb served very well by public transit. Skytrain to get to the downtown campus would be less than an hour. I didn't see any references on RCMP Burnaby's website.

 

[Hotmud62]

New article from CTV News from today.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/japanese-student-missing-more-than-a-week-in-b-c-1.3074956

 

[Gardener1850]

Where are you Natsumi?

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/rcmp-concerned-about-japanese-student-missing-in-b-c-1.3075965

The 30-year-old was reported missing to the Vancouver Police Department on Sept. 12, but the case has since been handed over to Burnaby Mounties as her last known location was at her home in their jurisdiction.

Kogawa’s friend, Jay Vergara, said the missing woman was studying English at Kaplan International English School in Vancouver.

Vergara told CTV News that Kogawa messaged another friend on the morning of Sept. 8 to make plans to meet with him later that day.

He said Kogawa didn’t show up for the meeting and has not been responding to calls and text messages from her friends.

“I’m incredibly concerned,” he told CTV News. “I really hope for her safe return.”

 

[slowpoke]

This makes me feel the police have some leads that they are working on and not making public:

From the video on http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00336228.html
I think it is her friend JV who says: "The police are looking at a couple things that perhaps I shouldn't really talk about, right? Um, but we don't, she's still not found. I am incredibly, I am, I am hopeful that she will come back to."

Then, on the Find Natsumi Kogawa page, where someone posted asking if there was anyone unusual hanging around her before she went missing, the reply from the admin (who could also be JV) said: "Unfortunately since it is an official investigation we can't divulge too much information to the public in regards to who she was hanging around with. Rest assured [a friend name, YA], some friends of her, and myself are working in collecting all of the information that we get and bring it to the police." https://www.facebook.com/findnatsumikogawa

Also, here's a bulletin from the Burnaby RCMP about her disappearance, which confirms the case's move from the Vancouver Police Dept who took the original report, to Burnaby RCMP.
http://www.canadapolicereport.ca/20...natsumi-kogawa-reported-missing-from-burnaby/

 

[Gardener1850]

Burnaby RCMP held a media event about Natsumi's disappearance on Friday.

He said there’s nothing to suggest her disappearance is suspicious, but there’s been no contact, so investigators are not sure what’s happened.
“We just don’t know and we’re concerned for her well-being,” Buis told the media, noting she uses public transit to get around. “Obviously her family is concerned as well.”
Investigators have also spoken to Kogawa’s mother in Japan.
Buis said he wasn’t sure who the missing woman was staying with, but pointed out she was studying English in Canada. He also said her case has been deemed a priority with a number of police officers assigned to find her
- See more at: http://www.burnabynow.com/news/burn...panese-student-1.2345780#sthash.FYQJeOtb.dpuf

 

[slowpoke]

Hotmud62, she seems to have completed whatever Kaplan course she was taking, because there is a photo of her in a cap and gown holding a Certificate from Kaplan in the beginning of this video. http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/nnn?a=20160915-00000091-nnn-int

In this video at around 0:54 her friend JV says:
"I tried messaging her, but she wasn't replying, so I just thought maybe she's out with friends, maybe she's busy, but then by the time Monday rolls around, um, I became really worried so I brought it up to ____, and then I went to her house." Did it sound like he was going to say a name after he says "brought it up to", but then stopped himself? Or, was it "bleeped" out? Made me think, "Hmmmm".
http://www.news24.jp/articles/2016/09/14/10340986.html

In another video, I think her friend Jay feels certain something untoward has happened to Natsumi and is very adamant in this video (at 0:52):
"This is incredibly out of her character. In fact, people have been asking me, "Oh, is it possible that she left the country or she's somewhere else. It isn't possible."
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/fnn?a=20160915-00000308-fnn-int

Looks like her disappearance has a good deal of interest to the Japanese media. When I did a Yahoo Japan search, quite a few articles came up. http://news.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?p=古川夏好&rkf=2&ei=UTF-8&b=1

 

[slowpoke]

BBM:

Burnaby RCMP held a media event about Natsumi's disappearance on Friday.

He said there’s nothing to suggest her disappearance is suspicious, but there’s been no contact, so investigators are not sure what’s happened.
“We just don’t know and we’re concerned for her well-being,” Buis told the media, noting she uses public transit to get around. “Obviously her family is concerned as well.”
Investigators have also spoken to Kogawa’s mother in Japan.
Buis said he wasn’t sure who the missing woman was staying with, but pointed out she was studying English in Canada. He also said her case has been deemed a priority with a number of police officers assigned to find her
- See more at: http://www.burnabynow.com/news/burn...panese-student-1.2345780#sthash.FYQJeOtb.dpuf

Is it odd the Burnaby RMCP don't know who Natsumi "was staying with"? We have read she lived in a "shared house". So, wouldn't they know who she was staying with?

 

[Gardener1850]

BBM:


Is it odd the Burnaby RMCP don't know who Natsumi "was staying with"? We have read she lived in a "shared house". So, wouldn't they know who she was staying with?

That is a little odd...I don't know how to interpret that statement. If she was there studying English as an exchange student wouldn't she have to have an address on file with the government? Could this just be a case where she wants to stay in Canada after her Visa expires? I don't know how things work up there (I'm in the US). I just hope she is found safe and this is all some big misunderstanding but I have a bad feeling since she hasn't contacted her parents either

 

[MaxRx]

It seems she may live or attend school in Burnaby (because the translation seems to indicate the file went from Burnaby RCMP to Vancouver PD which covers downtown Vancouver).

The ESL school Kogawa attended was KAPLAN INTERNATIONAL VANCOUVER which is located in downtown [ Robson St]:

http://www.kaplaninternational.ca/schools-canada/vancouver/


This is and other facts below were indicated in public releases issued either by her friends or law enforcement...


This Google Map shows the route from the 'Sky Train' station closest to where she lives in Burnaby , BC [ near HOLDOM STATION ] to the KAPLAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL in downtown Vancouver on Robson Street [ a major shopping street] [the closest station is BURRARD STATION]:


https://goo.gl/maps/11q8vufBFmQ2 [ 25 min by train ]



One place she was said to visit regularly after class was the library:


THE VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY is a 9 minute walk from the ESL school:
http://www.vpl.ca/branches/details/central_library

350 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 6B1
Phone: 604-331-3603



https://goo.gl/maps/US5TtL2LcjT2



On Thursday September 8th, it was open until 9 p.m.
[ Thursday: 10am - 9pm* ]


The early FB post also said Kogawa would sometimes go to her friend's place near "JOYCE STATION" aka Joyce–Collingwood station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce–Collingwood_station


https://goo.gl/maps/MsCN3nb7Q1u [ 18 min by train ]



To get from JOYCE COLLINGWOOD STATION to HOLDROM STATION, it would be a bit trickier - she would either need to transfer trains/buses or take the long way around:


https://goo.gl/maps/bwcqUNBipxr [23 min - 31 min ]



Walking would be impractical at 6.5 km or 1 hour 26 mins by foot.


https://goo.gl/maps/GfukV2coXiB2


The search is now focused more in the Burnaby area based on evidence from CCTV cameras, I think.

-------------

This deals with someone whom almost immediately following the case was posted online, went out of his way to post claims the woman was no longer missing, along with accusations that the two male friends heading her search were in fact stalkers. Most of his comments were taken down but not before he continued throwing accusations at his critics... an archive of most comments were captured:

http://pastebin.com/DtutArce

 

[Hotmud62]

If she was there studying English as an exchange student wouldn't she have to have an address on file with the government? Could this just be a case where she wants to stay in Canada after her Visa expires? I don't know how things work up there (I'm in the US).

She would have an address on file if she wanted to work (Social Insurance Number or SIN) and/or if she had signed up for (MSP) health insurance coverage. Not sure how it works for Japan but Americans may enter and stay in Canada for up to six months without a visa (but you must have a passport). If you are going to stay longer then you would have to apply for a study or work permit which is a bit more rigorous. My study permit is good for 2.5 years with some stipulations. If you want to stay longer you must apply pretty far in advance to extend your permit.