Mikiko Kasahara, a 21 year old Asian female was the older of two daughters from a family in Japan. Ms. Kasahara was in the United States as a foreign exchange student, attended Texas Lutheran University in Seguin and was on the Dean’s List due to her excellent grades. She had just finished final exams early in the week for the fall 2002 semester and held a party on Friday night for some of her close friends. The following morning on Saturday, December 14, 2002, a fire was reported in her apartment complex. Ms. Kasahara was later found deceased inside her burned apartment. An autopsy later determined the manner of death to be a homicide.