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Police Release Photos of Truck Seized in Missing Woman Case

By Minna Sugimoto

(KHNL) -- Thursday makes one week since Masumi Watanabe went on a walk in Pupukea on Oahu's North Shore, and then vanished. Her family is now in Hawaii awaiting word on the case.

As KHNL News 8 first reported, Honolulu police seized two trucks in connection with the disappearance. Now, we have your first look at one of the trucks.

Investigators questioned the 22-year-old man who owns the truck, but are still missing several pieces of the puzzle.

Also Thursday, search teams continue combing Windward Oahu for the missing Japanese visitor.

They walk the streets, they go through brush, determined to find that needle in a haystack. On this day, crews scour the area near Heeia State Park, as well as the area along Kapaa Quarry Road, looking for any sign of a missing visitor from Japan.

"They're canvassing the area," Sgt. Kim Buffett, Crimestoppers, said. "They're talking to people out there, and people are placing cars going to and from. They gotta check every possible lead."

Twenty-one-year-old Masumi Watanabe went missing last Thursday. Now, investigators release photos of a truck they seized in connection with the disappearance.

"It's just a truck of interest right now," Buffett said. "It has come up in several interviews."

The Ford pickup has an after-market gas cap. Police hope someone will remember seeing it, or its 22-year-old driver, between last Thursday and this past Monday.

"If we can place him and find out why that vehicle's in the area and what he was doing in the area, who knows," Buffett said.

On day seven of the hunt, still no sign of Watanabe.

"There's many speculations out there," Buffett said. "We're just, you know, we're just hoping we find her."