Updated at 10:45 a.m., Thursday, August 2, 2001

Slain Wai'anae man remembered as 'gentle'

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

Susan Van Winkle, 68, of Wai'anae, holds a picture of her son, William, who was beaten and left to die in a park. * Wai'anae murder victim William "Willy" Van Winkle is shown posing with his daughter Halia, now 4 years old, in this undated picture. * They took a life. They took a son. They took a brother. They took an uncle. And most of all they took a daddy." Shawntan Carreiro Niece of Willie Van Winkle Kyle Sackowski • The Honolulu Advertiser*Winkle family photo

WAI'ANAE — His killers must have seen the baby seat on the back of his bicycle and known he was a father before they knocked him down and beat him.

That hurts Susan Van Winkle, mother of slain 35-year-old William "Willie" Van Winkle.

But what pains her the most is that when his killers stripped off his shorts, leaving him naked from the waist down in a pool of blood on a Wai'anae basketball court, they must have known they were stealing his dignity.

That is the part Susan Van Winkle says she cannot forgive.

The killers "don't know what they did to us," she said. "They took something precious that can never be replaced. What I want to know is why? Was it thrills? Drugs? Money? What?"

Honolulu police have arrested three teenagers since Sunday in connection with Van Winkle's July 14 slaying and say they expect to make four more arrests.

Prosecutors are seeking to try one 15-year-old boy as an adult on a second-degree murder charge. Two Wai'anae 18-year-olds, Branden Adkins and Calvin Dole, already face second-degree murder charges. Adkins made an initial court appearance yesterday. He and Dole remain in police custody, and the 15-year-old is being held at the state juvenile detention home.

Police yesterday also arrested a fourth teen, a 16-year-old Wai'anae boy, in connection with the case. They said they expect to make three more arrests.

Willie Van Winkle, a handyman with a 4-year-old daughter, never even carried a wallet, family members said.

But a police affidavit says he was carrying crystal methamphetamine, a drug known as ice. Suspects in his death told police they stole the drug from Van Winkle at the basketball court where he died, according to the affidavit.

"We know that he wasn't an angel," said Lillian Gann, 49, Willie's oldest sister. "But he didn't deserve this."

His mother says he was restless the night of his death and he left the house after midnight to head toward Wai'anae Boat Harbor. She said she figured her son was going to go drinking with his fishermen friends, and told him to be careful. He said he'd be all right.

Suspects didn't seek help

Court documents don't say what led to the initial confrontation between Willie Van Winkle and a group of boys half his age in the middle of the night in a dark park on the Leeward Coast.

The court papers tell only part of the story. One teen told police he saw Willie Van Winkle being kicked repeatedly by two young men who asked whether he "had enough." The affidavit goes on to say that the teenagers, who had been drinking, left Van Winkle at the basketball court after the beating, returned to remove his shorts and then went on to smoke ice from a glass pipe without ever seeking help for their victim.

A jogger found Willie Van Winkle's lifeless body at Wai'anae Regional District Park at 6:30 that morning and called 911. Van Winkle was wearing only a T-shirt. Police found his black shorts in a garbage can nearby. The medical examiner's office determined the cause of death to be blunt trauma to the face and head with injury to the brain. At the visitation before his funeral, his family dressed him in a baseball cap and long-sleeve shirt to hide his injuries.

His brother, George Van Winkle, 33, said he can only hope the tragedy sends a message to parents to keep track of their children and to use discipline to avoid trouble. But he cannot rationalize the slaying.

The sixth of seven children, Willie Van Winkle was a jokester, a flirt and a charmer, his family said. He used to cut classes at Wai'anae High School to go surfing. At 35, he still lived at home and worked as a handyman when he wasn't talking story down at the beach.

"If I was upset with him, he would go and water the whole yard for me," his mother said, pointing out the last two plants her son planted in a yard filled with palms and flowers. "He just was a gentle person."

His father, Willis Van Winkle, used to grumble at him for borrowing money for cigarettes. But he knew his son had a soft side. He remembers the time their German shepherd had to be put to sleep, and Willie held the dog in his arms and cried.

Helped feed homeless

Willie Van Winkle was the kind of person who would make sandwiches for the homeless on the beach and would come home and sweet talk his mother into fixing cream of wheat for breakfast for himself and 4-year-old daughter Halia Van Winkle.

"His little girl, that was his pride and joy," said Rosemarie Fernandez, 47, one of his sisters.

The little girl cried yesterday for her daddy. Her grandfather told her her daddy had gone to heaven.

His family remembers the many nights he used to ride Halia on the back of his bicycle to coax her to sleep. Now they are haunted by memories of his laughter marred by images of his death.

"I still can't believe he's not here," said his niece, Shawntan Carreiro, 29. "They took a life. They took a son. They took a brother. They took an uncle. And most of all, they took a daddy."

Reach Tanya Bricking at 525-8026 or tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com.