Suspect in Japanese student’s murder faces sex assault charge
The man accused of killing Natsumi Kogawa and hiding her body in a historic Vancouver mansion has also been charged in connection with an attempted sex assault in Vernon.
William Victor Schneider was arrested in the Okanagan town on Sept. 28, 2016, the same day 30-yearold Kogawa’s body was found in the Gabriola Mansion on Davie Street.
At the time, police declined to discuss the circumstances of Schneider’s arrest. But court records show that Schneider is now charged with sexual assault in connection with an incident allegedly committed on the day of his arrest. The charge was sworn in provincial court in Vernon on Jan. 31. Neither the RCMP nor Crown prosecutors would provide further details.
Schneider already has a lengthy criminal history in B.C. that includes numerous convictions for theft, as well as some drug and mischief charges.
He was sentenced to four years behind bars for a series of robberies in the late 1990s.
Friends of Kogawa, a Japanese student who was studying English in Vancouver, reported her missing on Sept. 12. She had planned to meet a friend at her home in Burnaby but failed to show.
Two weeks into the police search, Mounties released surveillance images showing Kogawa on the day of her disappearance, and asked the public for help identifying a man she was seen speaking to. Investigators later confirmed it was Schneider.
When Kogawa’s body was found, Schneider was charged with indignity to a human body. An additional charge of second-degree murder was announced last week.