Posted on: Saturday, September 15, 2001

Man to be extradited for 1975 murder

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

An Indiana court yesterday ordered that Delmar Edmonds, accused of killing a 13-year-old O'ahu girl 26 years ago, be returned to Hawai'i to face charges of murder and attempted murder.

Edmonds, 46, had been held in an Indianapolis jail, unable to post $500,000 bail.

A warrant issued by a Hawai'i court in July charged Edmonds with murdering Dawn "Dede" Bustamante.

Edmonds was a Marine stationed at the Marine Corps base in Kane'ohe when Bustamante was killed. She was shot in the head while attempting to flee from a man who had kidnapped her and and another girl, also 13. The other girl escaped and called police.

Jim Fulton, a spokesman for the city prosecutor's office, said that because of the disruption in aviation service after Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, it was not clear how soon Edmonds will be returned to Hawai'i.

A break in the case came last year when a former Marine who had been stationed in Hawai'i with Edmonds contacted authorities to say that Edmonds asked him and other Marines to lie about his whereabouts the night Bustamante was killed, according to court documents.

She and another girl were walking along a Kailua street when a man forced the two into his car at gunpoint and took them to an isolated area behind the Pali golf course.

Although investigators believe the incident involved other crimes, such as sexual assault and kidnapping, those charges were not brought against Edmonds because of the statute of limitations under Hawai'i law.

Murder and attempted-murder charges, however, are not subject to a statute of limitations.

Members of Edmonds' family have denied that he played any part in Bustamante's death.