The body of missing woman Natsumi Kogawa, 30, was found on the grounds of an empty heritage mansion in Vancouver's West End Sept. 28, 2017. William Schneider, 49, was arrested in Vernon the same day.
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February 17, 2017 - 5:30 PM
VERNON - The man accused of murdering a Japanese ESL student in Vancouver now faces a separate charge of attempted sexual assault in Vernon.
William Victor Schneider, 49, is charged with second degree murder and indignity to a human body in relation to the death of 30-year-old Natsumi Kogawa, a Japanese student studying in Vancouver.
Kogawa was missing for about three weeks before police found her body Sept. 28, 2016 on the property of a vacant mansion on Davie Street in Vancouver. Schneider was arrested shortly before midnight the same day in Vernon and charged with indignity to a human body. The Vancouver Police Department announced last week Crown counsel has now approved an additional charge of second degree murder.
Schneider also faces a separate charge of attempted sexual assault, dated on or about Sept. 28 in Vernon — the same day he was arrested in connection to Kogawa’s death, and the same day her body was found in Vancouver. The victim’s name has been removed from court documents. The charge was sworn Jan. 31, 2017.
Schneider is scheduled to appear in court March 2 for a bail hearing related to the sexual assault case.
Schneider has a lengthy criminal record dating back to the late 1990s. In 1998, he was convicted of robbery using a firearm in Vancouver and sentenced to four years in jail. He also has convictions for a number of property-related crimes, including theft under $5,000, break-and-enter and possession of stolen property out of the Lower Mainland.
In a news conference held shortly after Schneider’s arrest, police said he has lived in several communities in B.C. and currently has no fixed address.
On Sept. 28, police had an area behind Polson Park taped off for an undisclosed, ongoing investigation. Authorities have not said if that is where Schneider was found and arrested, or if it has anything to do with the Kogawa murder case.
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