Boy, 14, charged in rape, slaying of 6-year-old girl
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The rural neighborhood where a 6-year-old Puna girl was slain has yielded her suspected killer: a 14-year-old boy.
Courtesy Channel 8
The teen was arrested late Saturday night and charged in the kidnapping, rape and killing of Kauilani Tadeo on Thursday near her home in the Hawaiian Beaches subdivision, where he also lives.
The body of 6-year-old Kauilani Tadeo was found in a vacant house.
Police said that under state law, they cannot identify the youth.
Police Capt. James Day said the suspect was charged with second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree sexual assault of the Keonepoko first-grader, who was found dead in a vacant house a few doors from her home around 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Family Court has jurisdiction over teenagers 17 or younger charged with crimes. It can waive jurisdiction and send cases to adult court for any juvenile, regardless of age, in cases of first- or second-degree murder or attempted murder.
Kauilani's father, George Tadeo, wants the boy prosecuted as an adult.
"To me, I think, if this boy is capable of doing this crime, he is capable of doing the time," Tadeo said.
Day declined to say whether other suspects are being sought.
"We are continuing to investigate the crime scene," said Day, who had detectives assigned to the 'Opihi Street residence for a third straight day. Two Honolulu police specialists were still assisting.
Kauilani had been reported missing about 2 1/2 hours before police and the fire rescue squad discovered her body.
Police earlier said the girl, the oldest of three children of Tumata and George Tadeo, died of a blow to the head. Family members said she suffered multiple blows to her face and body, based on an autopsy by a visiting forensic pathologist Friday at Hilo Medical Center's morgue.
The sexual attack on the child was not disclosed until Saturday night after the youth was charged.
The victim's family had told reporters Friday that the suspect was a boy on a bicycle.
The suspect was taken to Honolulu yesterday because Hilo has no place to hold a juvenile defendant. Those under 18 cannot be held in custody with adult suspects.
Staff writer Walter Wright and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
