At an emotional press conference outside Gyotoku police station in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo, on Wednesday Bill Hawker told reporters that he was there to assist investigators and would stay 'for a few more days'.
His daughter, Lindsay Ann, had been teaching at the Koiwa School in Tokyo when she went missing on March 25th 2007.
Her flatmates said she had gone to an apartment in Chiba, east of Tokyo, to give an English lesson.
Her dead body was found two days later on the apartment’s balcony, buried in a sand-filled bathtub. Her hair had been cut and her hands and feet were bound with rope.
The property belonged to one of her students, Tatsuya Ichihashi, who went on the run after the 22-year-old's body was discovered.
After a two-year manhunt, police finally arrested Mr Ichihashi at Osaka ferry terminal last month and charged him with rape and murder.
Yesterday, Mr Hawker thanked Japan's press and public for the role they played in helping to catch Mr Ichihashi.
'I'd like also to thank every single person in Japan who looked at the television, who looked at the newspaper and watched for [Mr] Ichihashi,' he said.
'This has been a long, long investigation but it has been a team effort ... and we thank you.'
Holding up a photo of his smiling daughter, he added with a trembling voice: 'She came here, she loved the children of Japan. I now feel as if Japan has not let her down.'
Mr Ichihashi has not yet spoken to police about the case and has reportedly been rejecting food.
The suspect's lawyers said they believed he was unable to talk because of fatigue and stress from his arrest.
Her flatmates said she had gone to an apartment in Chiba, east of Tokyo, to give an English lesson.
Her dead body was found two days later on the apartment’s balcony, buried in a sand-filled bathtub. Her hair had been cut and her hands and feet were bound with rope.
The property belonged to one of her students, Tatsuya Ichihashi, who went on the run after the 22-year-old's body was discovered.
After a two-year manhunt, police finally arrested Mr Ichihashi at Osaka ferry terminal last month and charged him with rape and murder.
Yesterday, Mr Hawker thanked Japan's press and public for the role they played in helping to catch Mr Ichihashi.
'I'd like also to thank every single person in Japan who looked at the television, who looked at the newspaper and watched for [Mr] Ichihashi,' he said.
'This has been a long, long investigation but it has been a team effort ... and we thank you.'
Holding up a photo of his smiling daughter, he added with a trembling voice: 'She came here, she loved the children of Japan. I now feel as if Japan has not let her down.'
Mr Ichihashi has not yet spoken to police about the case and has reportedly been rejecting food.
The suspect's lawyers said they believed he was unable to talk because of fatigue and stress from his arrest.
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