Homicide Lt. Bill Kato said today that police have been checking pawnshops for the six bracelets Kahealani was believed to have been wearing when she was killed. Christopher Clayburn Aki, 20, has admitted to killing the 11-year-old half-sister of his girlfriend and told police he dumped the bracelets in a trash bin.

The investigation yesterday sent divers to Halawa Stream but after several hours in the water, they were unable to find the weapon allegedly used to kill Kahealani.

Finding her bracelets would mean someone other than Aki had knowledge of the murder.

In a statement to police last Friday, Aki said robbery was the motive and he implicated two other men. Much of what Aki told police in that first confession has been discredited through investigation, said Kato.

Homicide investigators re-interviewed Aki on Saturday. Kato has stated that facts from the second confession "align better" with what police have learned.

Aki's statements that he threw the "metal pipe" murder weapon into the water led to yesterday's unsuccessful search at the mouth of Halawa Stream. Police do not plan to continue searching today.

Kato confirmed that blood-detecting Luminol was used in an evidence search of Aki's car last weekend but declined comment of any findings.

The divers searched the stream where Aki told them he threw a metal pipe that he used to beat Kahealani.

After 3› hours in the shallow waters so murky the divers could not see the back of their hands, police left with no weapon in hand. No further searches are scheduled.

"The suspect said he threw it there," said Missing Persons Detail Officer Joe Self, pointing to the still stream. But investigators were not sure how far the weapon may have been tossed, he said.

"I don't think it's critical (that we find it), because (Aki) said he used a pipe, and that's what we're looking for," Self said. "It's always good to have it in trial, but we're putting our best effort to locate it where he said he threw it."

The divers, assigned to the Honolulu Police Department's Special Services Division, were looking for a 1- to 2-foot metal pipe or tire iron.

Aki has been charged with murdering Kahealani, whose body was found at 'Aiea Loop Trail Dec. 13, three days after she disappeared from the Pu'uwai Momi housing complex, where she lived. Kahealani died from head and neck injuries, according to the city Medical Examiner's Office.

The stream mouth is within a half mile of the housing complex.

Self said Aki was brought to the scene earlier this week after he confessed.

Two divers at a time crawled on hands and knees, feeling their way through shallow water the color of milk chocolate. They said the water was less than 3 feet deep, but the silt was another foot thick.

"They have gloves on and they are running their hands across the stream floor," said Capt. Ray Ancheta. "I'm told the visibility is less than 6 inches."

The search was called off shortly after 3 p.m., when divers had searched an area slightly smaller than a baseball infield.