Police in California said they had little to go on Wednesday as they searched for the killer or killers of a college student from Johns Creek and his girlfriend.
So far, no suspect has been identified or motive given in the downtown San Jose slaying of Eric Kenzo Otokawa, 21, and his girlfriend, Kristina Lynn Pandula, 20, of Sunnyvale, Calif.
Otokawa, who attended San Jose State University in the spring, was found fatally shot at 11 a.m. Saturday at his apartment about a mile from campus.
Pandula, a pre-nursing student who attended San Jose State in the summer, was found mortally wounded with Otokawa. She died Sunday after being on life support at a local hospital.
Both Otokawa and Pandula had been shot multiple times.
Sgt. Jason Dwyer, a spokesman for the San Jose Police Department, told the AJC on Wednesday that no suspect has been identified.
Otokawa’s brother, Kenji Otokawa, told Channel 2 Action News his family, which was making arrangements to have Eric Otokawa cremated, wants justice served.
“It won't bring him back, but it'll be bring some peace to us for sure," said Kenji Otokawa, who described his brother as outgoing and said he “loved to be in the spotlight.”
Eric Otokawa grew up in the St. Ives Country Club in what is now Johns Creek. He attended Northview High School before transferring to Woodward Academy and then to Camden Military School in Camden, S.C.
Kenji Otokawa said his brother had planned to transfer from San Jose State, where a campus spokeswoman said he had studied business administration, to a smaller college to play football.
"This couldn't have happened at a worse time," Kenji Otokawa told Channel 2. "He really had it together."
Misha Minesinger, Otokawa’s mother, described her son as “wonderful.”
“He was talented. He was smart. He was handsome," she told the San Jose Mercury News. Minesinger also said she’d met Pandula once and described her as “a wonderful girl.”
Otokawa and Pandula reportedly began dating six months ago.
"When I hung out with them, they were really happy and really friendly," friend Taylor Wahl told the Mercury News.
Daniel Herberholz, another friend, told the Mercury News that Otokawa "was a really good guy, really good heart."
One of Pandula’s neighbors, Courtney Hessler, called her a big role model. “I always looked up to her,” Hessler told KGO-TV.
According to local media, the community where Otokawa was killed is nicknamed "Professor-ville" for the faculty members who live there.
Otokawa and Pandula were among four San Jose State students to die by gunfire this year.
The woman’s father, Louis Pandula, urged any witness to come forward.
"The people that perpetrated this are the worst cowards in the whole world," Pandula told the Mercury News.
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