Former Vernon resident pleads guilty to interfering with human remains

VERNON, B.C. — A former Vernon resident has pleaded guilty to interfering with human remains, following his arrest in connection to the death of a Japanese student in Vancouver.

William Schneider entered his plea yesterday, Oct. 15, to a charge of interfering with human remains or offering an indignity to a human body.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but he will still go to trial on a charge of second-degree murder.

The remains of 30-year-old Natsumi Kogawa were found in a suitcase on the property of a Vancouver mansion in 2016, and Schneider was arrested a short time later at a homeless camp in Vernon’s Polson Park.