Police described him as a loner with an obsession for physical fitness; he regularly attended a gym and cycled 25 kilometres a day. He also had an interest in violent manga, which some reporters linked to the case. Hawker told her boyfriend in England how she met Ichihashi in an e-mail message. Four days before she died, Ichihashi approached Hawker during her train journey home from work. He at first said Hawker was his English teacher (she was not) and then asked her to confirm that. Ichihashi chased her as she cycled home and asked for a glass of water when she arrived. Hawker felt sorry for him and allowed him inside her flat, but showed him to her two flatmates as a precaution. Once inside, Ichihashi drew a picture of her and signed it with his name, telephone number and e-mail address. The pair agreed to meet for an English lesson at a cafe four days later, which was permitted by the Nova school. Hawker and Ichihashi met on Saturday, 24 March 2007 in a cafe. Afterwards, they caught a taxi to Ichihashi's apartment, a few hundred yards away. Hawker told the taxi driver to wait for a short time and went to the apartment. Seven minutes later, the taxi driver left after she failed to return. Hawker's naked body was later found buried in a bath filled with a mixture of compost soil and sand on the apartment's balcony. She had been bound and gagged with plastic ties and scarves, with one of her hands lying outside the mixture. Bruises across Hawker's upper body indicated that she had been subjected to a prolonged attack. Police said the egg-sized bruises on the left side of her face appeared to have been inflicted with a fist, while lesser marks on her upper body resulted from collisions with furniture. Both Hawker and Ichihashi were familiar with martial arts; Ichihashi was more experienced than Hawker, having attained a black belt. Hawker had died when her assailant began strangling her and broke the cartilage in her neck. Hawker's head was shaved after she was killed. Her possessions were found strewn across the room. Media had reported in the days after Hawker's death that Ichihashi had buried her in sand, but he actually buried the body in a mixture of sand and compost soil, then sprayed it with a substance used to compact and decompose waste. It is believed that he planned to either bury the body in concrete or to wait until it had decomposed.