Puna boy didn't kill or rape girl, father says

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HAWAIIAN BEACHES, Hawai'i — The father of a teenage boy charged with the rape and murder of a 6-year-old Puna girl in September said yesterday that his son is innocent and that he can account for the boy's whereabouts at the time of the crime.

Mark Davis said there was no opportunity for his 14-year-old son, also named Mark, to have been involved in the Sept. 27 abduction and beating death of Kau'ilani Tadeo, whose body was found in a vacant house not far from the Davis home on 'Opae Street in the rural subdivision.

"He did not do this," said Davis, 41, who moved to Puna two years ago from Michigan with his wife and eight children.

He said harassment and threats forced him to withdraw his five other school-aged children from classes, including a 16-year-old daughter who is an honor student aspiring to become a doctor. For now, they are being home-schooled.

Hawai'i County Prosecutor Jay Kimura yesterday would not comment directly on the murder prosecution. The only information he would disclose is that the case has been assigned to Deputy Prosecutor Diane Noda.

Davis, whose wife is African American, said he believes that his son and the rest of the family are victims of prejudice. He insists that the case against his son is built on shaky circumstantial evidence.

The boy remains in a detention facility on O'ahu. Family Court Judge Ben Gaddis has determined that there is sufficient probable cause to hold the boy pending further proceedings.

The boy's father, a disabled carpenter and native of West Virginia, has been able to see his son only once since the teenager was taken to O'ahu following his Sept. 29 arrest. Davis said he spoke with the despondent youth for only 30 or 40 minutes and cannot afford to fly back and forth to see him more often.

He expressed frustration with the criminal justice system and feels the case is moving too slowly. He said one investigator told him some DNA tests associated with crime may take up to two years to get results.

Big Island prosecutors are seeking a Family Court waiver so the boy can be tried as an adult. Until Gaddis rules on that question, all court proceedings and records are closed to the public.

Police Capt. James Day, head of the Criminal Investigation Division in Hilo, said the case is one of the most thoroughly investigated in his long career.

"From the beginning, a very thorough case has been done," he said.

Davis and his wife have described the boy as "mentally retarded" but not violent or troubled. The boy was a seventh-grader at Pahoa High & Intermediate School, where teachers and administrators say he was not a problem student.

An evaluation by a school psychologist said the boy has an IQ of 45, well below the average range of 85 to 115.

Davis said his son has struggled as a student, but is a warm, happy child who is dependent on his parents and siblings.

"He doesn't understand the gravity of the situation because he knows he has done nothing wrong," Davis said.

He said he can account for his son's movements on Sept. 27 from the time the boy was dropped off by a school bus until he returned home for the night.

Kau'ilani Tadeo was reported missing after returning home from school. Davis said that his 14-year-old son was with his younger brother most of the afternoon and that the two had gone off to play and they brought home a dog. Davis said he told the boys to take the animal back to where they had found it.

A little later, Davis said, his son Mark rode his bicycle to a store several miles away, in the opposition direction of where the slaying occurred. That would have left little or no time for the boy to abduct the girl, sexually assault her and then kill her with blows to the head, his father said.

Davis said he has found several witnesses who saw his son riding his bike to the store, but he declined to reveal their identities.

Davis also said he saw no blood on his son's clothing. He said police showed him a bloodied leather belt recovered at the scene, but he insisted yesterday that it was not his son's.

He said he was angry because TV news reports since his son's arrest portrayed the family as dysfunctional.

Tears welled up in Davis' eyes as he thumbed through photo albums with pictures of his son as a baby, at church, swimming and on summer vacations.

"There is a lot of love in this house and these children miss their brother," Davis said. "It would be a lot easier to deal with this if we knew he did it."