Crown says accused confessed to killing Japanese student

Countless people walked past the body of a Japanese studenthidden metres from a busy Vancouver streetfor several daysbefore investigators found the remains, according to testimony from aa forensic investigator.

Vancouver police Const.Beatrice Chow took the stand on the second day of the murder trial for the man charged in relation to Natsumi Kogawa's 2016 death.

William Victor Schneider, 51, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second degree murder and interfering with human remains.

Kogawa, 30, had been missing for more than two weeks when her body was found in a suitcase outside the historic Gabriola mansion in Vancouver's West End on Sept. 28, 2016.

In B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday, Chow went through hundreds of photos she took as she helped document the crime scene where Kogawa's decomposed body was found.

A police dog found theblack suitcase with a broken wheel at 6:53 p.m. PT.

Chow noted a dirt path near the suitcase was littered with a beer can, used condoms and discarded bottles of lubricant. There was also a pair of black boots and zap-strap ties scattered near the luggage, which had beenhidden in an indent against a bush.

Kogawa'sdecomposed body was found inside the suitcase.

Crown claims confession

In his opening statement on Monday, Crown prosecutor Geordie Proulx said he will be presenting evidence that Schneider phoned his wife in Japan and said, "I killed her."

Proulx also saidSchneider also confessed to his brother that he hid a woman's body on a Vancouver construction site before Kogawa's body was found.

Schneider who has been living at the Catholic Charities Men's hostel in 2016 told staff there that he'd met a Japanese woman he was excited to go hiking and camping with, the Crown said.

Kogawawent missing on Sept. 8, 2016. She'd been studying English in Vancouver on a student visa.

Police tracked her movements and found surveillance video of Kogawawith a man, later identified as Schneider, walking through Vancouver's Harbour Centre Mall.

A still photo from the footage was releasedto the media on Sept. 27. Proulxsaid Schneider's brother, Warren, recognized him on the tape and phoned police.

Warren Schneider is set to testify later this week.

The trial is scheduled to continue into October.

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