Witnesses often key to solving old cases

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

The identification last week of Delmar Edmonds as a suspect in a 26-year-old murder case is the latest example of police fixating on a suspect soon after the crime but being unable to make an arrest without the help of a corroborating witness.

Michael Ryback's decision to break his silence last year and tell police what he knew about the 1975 killing of 13-year-old Dawn "Dede" Bustamante in Kailua led to Edmonds' arrest Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Edmonds, 46, a former Marine stationed at Kane'ohe in 1975, is awaiting extradition to Hawai'i to face a charge of murdering Bustamante.

"While time has a negative effect on memory, it has a positive effect on the conscience of reluctant witnesses," said Gary Dias, a retired Honolulu police major who supervised the department's homicide investigations from 1986-92. "That's exactly what happened with the Bustamante case."

Edmonds' arrest brought back memories for longtime residents here of the fear and shock generated by several unsolved murders of girls and young women in the 1970s and 1980s, but it also provided a glimmer of hope for victims' relatives, who now know that it's possible to prosecute suspects years after the homicides.

Bustamante was one of three teenage girls murdered in 1975. With Edmonds' arrest, only one of those cases — Margie Hauanio — remains unsolved.

Also still unresolved is the string of highly-publicized killings of girls and young women in the 1980s. They include the cases of Diane Suzuki and Jiezhao Li, whose disappearances have been classified as homicides, the slaying of Lisa Au and the serial killings of five young women, which led police to take the unprecedented step of setting up roadblocks to question motorists in a quest for clues to find the killer.

In Bustamante's case, police considered Edmonds the primary suspect 26 years ago but could not build a strong enough case to charge him with murder. The same holds true for some of the other unsolved cases.

Eighty-three percent of the 1,153 homicides investigated by Honolulu police from 1970 through last year have been resolved, a rate that ranks among the best in the nation. Of the 196 murders that are unresolved, homicide Lt. William Kato says, "in the majority of cases, we know who did it but can't get that last piece of the puzzle to prove it."

Holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, Kato adds, "We're just this far away from solving some of them."

The arrest in Bustamante's case gives hope to other victims' families.

"This was a case of conscience, and it might work for Margie, too," said Margaret Mathews, the mother of Margie Hauanio.

Hauanio was beaten to death in a Waipahu pineapple field near Crestview on Nov. 17, 1975, 11 days after her 16th birthday.

Hauanio, Bustamante and Barbara Seibel, 16, all were killed in 1975. Abraham Paul Jordan, formerly known as Paul Luiz, was acquitted by reason of insanity for Seibel's murder and remains at the Hawai'i State Hospital. Jordan is seeking conditional release after 25 years.

"I believe every crime leaves a clue," Mathews said. "If there is someone out there who saw or heard something, it will give our family some relief to know Margie's death will not go unpunished.

"But even if someone is caught, there can never be closure for me," she said.

Police questioned the men considered the primary suspects in three notable cases involving Suzuki, Au and the five serial murders — but released them without filing charges.

Patrice Au-Kaunamano, Chester Au, and Yuri Suzuki, all parents of victims, died without knowing who killed their daughters.

"During an investigation, police may have a good idea who did it, but the question is, 'Do you have enough evidence to prove it?' " said Keith Kaneshiro, Honolulu's prosecuting attorney from 1989-96. During his two terms, Kaneshiro presented evidence three times to an investigative grand jury on the Suzuki case, but no one has been charged.

"When you don't have a body, how do you determine cause of death?" Kaneshiro added. "It was very frustrating that we couldn't go forward (with the grand jury) because I thought we had a chance."

The 1988 disappearance of 12-year-old Li has been stymied from the start by lack of witnesses and leads. There is no suspect in the case.

The serial killings between May 1985 and May 1986 terrified the community like no other crime spree before or since, Dias said.

"From my perspective, the department was not prepared to handle a serial killing case, and the community felt a sense of terror in the grips of a killer preying on women," Dias said. "Even when you have pressure to make something stop, when you have a suspect, you'd better have your case together (before making an arrest)."

Maj. Louis Souza, who was involved in the serial killing investigation, confirmed that a man contacted police and offered to assist them in finding a body that was at Sand Island. The body of the fifth victim — Linda Pesce — was discovered the next day at Sand Island.

For the first time, police used roadblocks to question motorists for information. Souza said 12 witnesses saw a van, fitting the description of one owned by the suspect, in the area on Nimitz Highway where Pesce's abandoned car was found.

The man who phoned police was arrested as a suspect in the killing, but city prosecutors declined to accept the case for prosecution, fearing that although there may be enough evidence to charge the man, it would not have been strong enough for a conviction.

An acquittal would have meant the man could never be prosecuted again — even if stronger evidence later surfaced — because of constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crime.

"Sometimes, when you look at old cases it's difficult because you don't know what the detective is thinking," said Larry Tamashiro, who together with Anderson Hee, Cliff Rubio, Hal Fitchett, Mike Tsuda and Allan Castro make up the six-man HPD homicide unit.

Advances in forensic science and DNA testing can make a big difference if evidence has been properly preserved when old cases are reopened, said Kaneshiro. The best hope, however, is a witness.

"There's always a witness," Kaneshiro said. "That person may not have witnessed the crime but is someone the person who committed the crime has talked to," he said. "All you want is something to corroborate evidence."

You can reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8181.