Kenji Ohmi is still missing after he first disappeared Jan. 28, over two months ago. Madison Police Department Information Officer Mike Hanson alleged all leads given for the investigation have been cold.
He noted allocation of resources has been different from a similar disappearance of Audrey Seiler due to the characteristics of each case.
The circumstances are completely different,\ Hanson said.
Seiler, a former UW-Madison student, disappeared after leaving her apartment March 27, 2004. After a search involving over 100 volunteers and K9 search dogs, Seiler was found four days later in a marsh near the State Department of Revenue Building, 2135 Rimrock Rd. She admitted to a kidnapping hoax after police found inconsistencies in her story.
Hanson explained with Seiler, there was a history of attack and evidence of foul play at the scene, noting that her apartment door was left open.
However with Ohmi, Hanson said, there was ""nothing suspicious.""
""Technically, the police don't believe there has been a crime committed,"" he said. ""It's a case of a missing adult.""
Amy Osorio, Director of the Wisconsin English as a Second Language Institute where Ohmi attended classes, also agreed Ohmi's situation differed from Seiler's due to lack of foul play.
""He appears to have left on his own will,"" Osorio said.
As far as the investigation, Hanson said MPD detectives Greg Esser and Marion Morgan have followed leads called in from ""missing"" posters. But none of them has led investigators to Ohmi.
After doing a ""cursory search"" of the area, police also worked with Ohmi's parents when they flew into Madison from Japan in February, Hanson said.
""We're trying to find him for resolution for his family,"" Hanson said, ""though all the evidence that we have collected hasn't led to anything suspicious.""
Although police activity has not amounted to anything, Osorio said the police have been ""just amazing.""
""It was a really difficult situation because of the cross-cultural issues,"" Osorio said.
Osorio said the police were open to using translators, due to the fact that Ohmi's parents and several international students interviewed spoke little, if any, English.
""It's scary to be interviewed by the police, and they've been very sensitive to that,"" she said, ""I've been nothing but impressed.""
As far as differences in media coverage, UW-Madison journalism professor James Baughman said there is a preference for covering certain stereotypes in a missing person story.
""There is a likely preference to cover young, white, middle-class women,"" Baughman said.
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