Abduction Not The First Case Two Other Young Japanese Women Endured A Similar Situation

Saturday’s abduction of three young Japanese students near the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute may not be an isolated incident.

A similar kidnapping happened Oct. 28 to two young Japanese women who are part of Eastern Washington University’s Asia University America Program, said Student Service Coordinator Kris Moore.

The sophomores, about age 19 or 20, were waiting for the bus after scuba lessons at the Gonzaga University pool, Moore said Sunday. A man and woman, in their 30s to 50s, pulled up in a reddish, four-door car and offered the women a ride to the STA Plaza.

Once in the car, the couple took them to a dead-end road, Moore said.

When the women tried to escape, they were shocked in the thighs with a stun gun. The couple then wrestled with the women, but the women escaped and ran to Yoke’s Foods on North Foothills Drive, Moore said.

Spokane Police couldn’t confirm Moore’s report Sunday, but spokesman Dick Cottam said he had heard of a possible similar incident and would have more information today.

“There are too many similarities and it makes me a little nervous,” Moore said. “The fact it was two men and a woman, they took them to a deserted place when they asked for a ride at a bus stop and the car color is the same.”

Police didn’t release any more details about Saturday’s 9:30 a.m. abduction, where the three Mukogawa women were picked up by an unknown woman in a maroon or red, four-door Subaru at a bus stop near the school on Government Way. It remains unknown if the women were harmed.

One of the women, Rumi Okada, was released soon after being abducted. The other two were missing nine hours.

After picking the three Japanese students up, the woman drove them about a mile and a half down Houston Road, a private dirt road east of Government Way. She met another car there, which was described as an older, four-door sedan that was possibly gray. Two men were waiting inside.

A gray-haired man got out of the car, handcuffed Okada and put her in the other car. The two other students also were handcuffed. A man with brown hair joined the woman in the reddish car and the two vehicles drove in separate directions.

Okada pleaded with the man to let her go and not to hurt her, police said. He drove to a bus stop on Government Way, told her to take the No. 41 bus back to the STA Plaza and not to contact police.

The two other women were returned to the campus about 7 p.m. by their abductors, who then left, police said.

With the help of a translator, Detective George Benevidez interviewed the women Saturday night. Police declined to discuss a motive or other investigation details.

The police search is concentrating on the maroon or red Subaru station wagon.

Police continue to search for three suspects: a woman described as short and chubby with permed brown hair, and two white men between 30 and 40 years old with full beards and medium builds.

One had brown hair and wore a knit cap. The other had gray hair, police said.

Hiroshi Takaoka, Mukogawa’s executive vice president, wasn’t available for comment Sunday, but Ed Tsutakawa, vice president of administration, said he was aware of the EWU incident last month.

Students and advisers in Mukogawa’s dining hall Sunday said they couldn’t comment on the abduction.

Both Moore and Tsutakawa said the abductions could lower enrollment in Spokane foreign exchange programs.

Mukogawa offers a 15-week English Language and American Studies program for women.

The EWU women arrived on campus in September and will leave in February. The program enrolls 70 to 90 male and female college students in each of its three annual sessions.

“(It’s) a concern because you know the parents keep asking `Are you sure, absolutely sure our daughters are safe?”’ Tsutakawa said. “We always say `Yes.’ Spokane is reasonably safe.”

One of the women’s parents flew to Spokane on Sunday.

“It just doesn’t seem like Spokane,” Moore said.