By Rod Ohira and Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writers

Police planned today to question a man who may have been driving a customized dark blue Ford Econoline van that they believe hit a bicyclist early Wednesday on Fort Weaver Road in ‘Ewa.

The man, who has not been arrested, is believed to be employed by the van’s owner.

Police traffic accident investigators Myles Yoshimoto, left, and Val Chun examine a van believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run accident that killed a bicyclist Wednesday. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

An auto body shop owner in Mapunapuna yesterday notified police at 5:30 p.m. about a van with suspicious front-end damage. Police seized the van and planned to search it today.

“We believe it’s the vehicle,” Officer Myles Yoshimoto, a vehicular homicide investigator, said of the van suspected of hitting 21-year-old Theron Keoki Nicodemus, who died at 1:40 a.m. yesterday at Queen’s Medical Center.

The van’s grill and hood are smashed on the passenger side and the driver’s air bag deployed, indicating a hard impact.

Family and friends, meanwhile, gathered at Queen’s yesterday to mourn the death of Nicodemus.

With the same hands that once held up her best friend’s son with joy, Cynthia Medina wiped away tears of sorrow for Nicodemus, whose girlfriend is five months pregnant.

Medina was one of three people in an Intensive Care Unit room at the Queen’s Medical Center at 1:40 a.m. yesterday when Nicodemus died without regaining consciousness from major head injuries sustained about 25 hours earlier, when he was struck by a van while bicycling home. The van’s driver, who struck Nicodemus on Fort Weaver Road in ‘Ewa Beach, fled the scene.

Honoring his request, Nicodemus’ family donated his eyes, heart, kidneys and liver for transplant to potential recipients. A girl from Hawai‘i will receive the liver, the family said.

Minutes before Nicodemus died, Medina and the young man’s stepgrandmother, Marge Abaro, were trying to relieve the tension by sharing laughs with a nurse.

“We were talking about some fun things,” Medina recalled, “so when Keoki left us, he left with laughter in the room.”

Outside the room, Medina’s heart was breaking as she saw Nicodemus’ mother, Eydie Muromoto, approaching with her husband, Jerry. Both had been resting nearby.

“All I could say was, ‘He left,’” Medina said. “It just hurts to see my best friend suffer so much.

“But I know our suffering is going to be somebody else’s happiness,” she added, referring to the donation of Nicodemus’ organs.

The victim’s stepfather, Jerry Muromoto, calls it a senseless death and wants the driver of the van to “own up to what he did.”

“We’re not trying to get revenge,” Muromoto said. “I just want to get some kind of closure for my wife. “

His message to the driver: “Please follow your conscience. Do the moral thing.”

Nicodemus worked at a warehouse in Mapunapuna. He had visited a friend in Pearl City after work and was on his way home when struck by the van, less than a mile from St. Francis Medical Center-West.

“We’re hearing a witness saw the van veer off to the right shoulder, hit Keoki, slow down and then take off,” Muromoto said. “Keoki got dragged about 70 feet and that’s what caused his massive head injuries.”