Kirk Matthew Lankford (born 1985) is an American from

Kalihi Kalihi is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States. Split by the Likelike Highway (Route 63), it is flanked by downtown Honolulu to the east and Mapunapuna, Moanalua and Salt Lake to the west. Kalihi is th ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

who was convicted of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ing a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese tourist in

Pūpūkea, Hawaii Pūpūkea () is a community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Koolauloa District on the island of Oahu, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, ''pūpūkea'' means "white shell". As of the 2020 census, the CDP h ...

. On April 12, 2007, Japanese tourist Masumi Watanabe disappeared in Pūpūkea.Eloise Aguiar
"Life turns upside down on North Shore"
''

Honolulu Advertiser ''The Honolulu Advertiser'' was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Int ...

'', 2007-04-28. Lankford was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on April 26, 2007, after police found blood and items belonging to Watanabe in his pickup truck. Watanabe's body was never found, but the blood in Lankford's truck was determined to have been Watanabe's. Lankford denied any involvement in her disappearance and maintained there was a police conspiracy against him. After failing a polygraph exam, he admitted to being involved in her disappearance. At his trial, Lankford pleaded not guilty.Debra Barayuga
"Murder suspect claims innocence"
''

Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honolulu Advertiser''). ...

'', 2007-05-01. In his trial testimony, Lankford claimed that he had accidentally hit Watanabe with his truck, but that she had not been seriously injured and he offered to give her a ride to her destination. Lankford claims that after he began driving with Watanabe in the truck, she jumped out of the moving vehicle and hit her head on a rock by the road. When Lankford discovered that she had died, he says, he disposed of her body in the ocean because he said he was frightened that he would lose his job. Prior to his trial, Lankford had told police he had never seen Watanabe before. The jury found Lankford guilty of second-degree murder. At his sentencing hearing, Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto referred to Lankford as a "predator" and sentenced him to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. Peter Carlisle, the city prosecutor, asked the parole board for 120-years minimum imprisonment. He is currently serving his sentence at

Saguaro Correctional Center The Saguaro Correctional Center (SCC) is a private prison for male inmates, owned and operated by CoreCivic located in Eloy, Pinal County, Arizona. The prison contracts with the Hawaii Department of Public Safety as well as the Idaho Departmen ...

Eloy, Arizona Eloy is a city in Pinal County, Arizona, United States, approximately northwest of Tucson and about southeast of Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census estimates in 2019, the population of the city is 19,625. History In 1880, as tracks were ...

Notes

1985 births American people convicted of murder People from Honolulu Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Hawaii Living people American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People convicted of murder by Hawaii {{Hawaii-stub