A second-degree murder charge has now been laid in the death of Japanese student Natsumi Kogawa.
Forty-nine-year-old William Schneider was previously charged with indignity to a human body. Crown Counsel has now laid an additional charge of second-degree murder.
Schneider remains in custody.
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Thirty-year-old Natsumi Kogawa was reported missing on Sept. 12, 2016 by a close friend. Her body was found in Gabriola Mansion, located at Davie Street and Nicola Street in Vancouver, later that month.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Friends of murdered Japanese student, Natsumi Kogawa, speak out
Schneider was arrested by the RCMP in Vernon on the same day that Kogawa’s body was found.
Following her death, a friend of Kogawa’s described her as “bright, positive and the centre of [any] room.”
The case remains before the courts.