TV show prompted tip in 1975 murder case

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Michael Ryback was watching a television show about a murder that occurred in 1975 when someone on the show asked, "Can you remember what you were doing 25 years ago?"

Maureen Bustamante doesn't want to see the face of the man suspected of killing her daughter, fearful it could obscure memories of 13-year-old Dede, who was killed 26 years ago. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Ryback, whose recollections may have helped crack the Dawn Bustamante murder case, would later tell authorities that he remembered being a young Marine stationed at Kane'ohe, according to a police affidavit.

He remembered a fellow Marine returning to the barracks late one night in March 1975. He remembered that the Marine was very shaken and appeared to be in trouble. He remembered the Marine asking others to "cover for him" and to say that he was in the barracks all night. And he remembered that the Marine kept a pearl-handled revolver in his footlocker.

Ryback also remembered the following day when he read about a girl who was abducted, raped, beaten and shot in the head.

And he remembered not saying a word to anyone about what he knew.

The girl was Bustamante, a 13-year-old Kailua Intermediate School student who was found shot to death on a secluded Kailua Road March 14, 1975. The Marine was Delmar Edmonds, who has been charged in Indianapolis with murdering her.

After watching the television show, Ryback sent an e-mail to CrimeStoppers in Honolulu last year that led to Edmonds' arrest.

Ryback said the murder featured on the television show that brought back the memories involved Ethel Kennedy's nephew Michael Skakel, who is awaiting trial on a murder charge. Skakel is accused of beating to death 15-year-old Martha Moxley in 1975

"I just started thinking," Ryback said. "It was the right thing to do. It just always bothered me. In the past I thought about how to do this. But who do you call? Where do you start?"

Ryback has lived and worked in Las Vegas for about 11 years. But since those two days in March 1975, Ryback said his conscience has bothered him because he failed to tell authorities what he knew.

Ryback did not want to say why he declined to talk. But in the police affidavit filed to support the arrest of Edmonds, Ryback told authorities last year that he "feared retaliation" from others at the barracks.

But that one question on the television show convinced him that he could no longer be silent.

The affidavit said Ryback sent the e-mail to authorities and said he had information about the Bustamante killing.

He was then interviewed by Navy and Honolulu police investigators, who also later interviewed other former Marines.

If Edmonds goes on trial for the murder, Ryback said he expects to be called as a witness.

And he's more than willing to testify, he said. Ryback added that he doesn't want to read or hear what other former Marines, who may be called as witnesses, have to say about the case.

"I just want to remember what I remember," he said. "I just want to go in there and tell the truth. That's all I want to do. It's the only way to do it."

While stationed in Kane'ohe, Ryback said he would say "hi" to Edmonds and play cards with him "once in a while."

Otherwise, Ryback said he didn't know Edmonds very well.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.