NOVA teacher murdered in Chiba Prefecture

[A newer post on this subject can be found here]

Kyodo news is reporting the following:

body of a young woman was found Monday night in a bathtub placed on the balcony of an apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, the police said.

The police believe the woman has been murdered and that the body is that of a 22-year-old woman from Britain who worked at a language school.

The apartment belongs to a Japanese man in his 20s, whom she knew. The bathtub contained a large amount of sand, covering all parts of the body except for part of a hand.

The man, who has been missing, is being sought by the police.

The case came to light as another English woman, who lived with the victim, contacted the police Monday afternoon, saying she had not come home and that she could not contact her by mobile phone.

Let’s hope the person responsible for this gruesome crime is captured by the police as soon as possible.

Update: Some video news reports on the crime (Including footage of the infamous bathtub):

Update 2: Kyodo News has released further details on the incident, including the victim’s name and employer:

Police on Tuesday were searching for a 28-year-old Japanese man who fled from his apartment where the body of a 22-year-old British woman was found in a bathtub on the balcony. Police have issued a warrant for the man, Tatsuya Ichihashi. The woman, who was identified as Lindsay Ann Hawker, worked as a teacher for Nova. She went missing on Sunday after she left her home in Funabashi, leaving a note behind which cited the address of the apartment in which she was found.
[...]
Police went to the apartment mentioned in the woman’s note. When they tried to question Ichibashi, he took off and remains at large.

NOVA has denied that Ichibashi was one of their students and that he had been dating Ms. Hawker. BBC News offers more information:

The BBC’s correspondent said the teacher, from the Midlands, was reported missing by her flatmates on Monday afternoon after she disappeared from her home on Sunday.

Local media reported that Ms Hawker, who worked at the Koiwa school in Tokyo, had been in Japan for only a few months and was a popular teacher, he added.

They said she went to the apartment each Saturday to give English lessons to 28-year-old Tatsuya Ichihashi.

Anyone know if the NOVA policy of forbidding interactions between students and instructors outside of the classroom is still in effect, or are they now allowing students to teach private lessons outside of the classroom?

Update 3: Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor for The Times, has posted an appeal for information regarding this murder case. If you know anything, please contact him so that this story can get proper coverage in the international press.