The case of Mayuko “Mayu” Kawase, a 21-year-old Japanese international student who vanished in 2001 after failing to show up for classes at Oklahoma City Community College, remains unresolved. More than 25 years later, her family, her fiancé and her friends are still waiting for answers about what happened to her.
According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, Kawase had moved to Oklahoma to study at the University of Central Oklahoma's English Language Institute before later attending Oklahoma City Community College in southwest Oklahoma City. She stopped showing up for class and was reported missing.
Accounts differ on exactly when and where Kawase was last seen. The Oklahoman reported that she vanished on August 22, 2001, and was last seen at the college library, adding that she was not reported missing until a week later. The Charley Project, a nonprofit database of missing persons cases, reported that she disappeared on August 20, 2001. NBC News, meanwhile, reported that she was last seen in August 2001 at her home in south Oklahoma City, and that she was reported missing by her family in Japan.
Remains Discovered Nearly Six Years Later
The case remained unsolved for years until children discovered partial human remains in April 2007, according to the same Oklahoman report. The OKCPD Facebook post describes the discovery site as being near the Boy Scouts' Camp Kickapoo in southwest Oklahoma City, while NBC News had previously reported the remains were found at the camp in far southeast Oklahoma City; The Oklahoman placed them at Camp Kickapoo itself, near SW 119 and County Line Road.
Lab workers eventually linked the skeletal remains to Kawase by comparing mitochondrial DNA to that of her surviving family, the paper reported. Oklahoma City police announced in August 2007 that the remains had been positively identified as Kawase. At the time, according to NBC News, investigators said they had no suspects in the case.
An Unresolved Case
More than two decades after Kawase disappeared, the case remains unresolved.
Investigators acknowledge that people with knowledge of what happened may not have come forward initially for a variety of reasons, and that relationships, loyalties and perspectives can shift over the course of 25 years, according to the department's statement. They are now asking anyone who might know what happened to Mayu to come forward.
Podcast Episode Planned for Later This Month
OKCPD cold case detectives are expected to share additional details about Kawase's case in a podcast slated for release later in November, the department said. The episode is set to air on OKC PAL Media's YouTube channel, according to the police department's announcement.
