Police divers give up search for murder weapon
By Curtis Lum, Mike Gordon and Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writers
Police divers crawled along the bottom of the mouth of Halawa Stream yesterday, searching where police say Christopher Clayburn Aki told them he threw a metal pipe he used to beat 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal.
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But after 3 1/2 hours in the shallow waters so murky the divers could not see the back of their hands, police left with no weapon in hand.
Patrick Sterling, front, and Kevin Espiritu of the Honolulu Police Department's Special Services Division search the mouth of Halawa Stream near the Arizona Memorial.
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."
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The search was called off shortly after 3 p.m., when divers had searched an area slightly smaller than a baseball infield.
Police Capt. Ray Ancheta points to the site at the mouth of Halawa Stream where Christopher Clayburn Aki claims he threw a pipe used to kill Kahealani Indreginal. The search was called off after 3 1/2 hours.
They did not use a metal detector because police believe the stream contains a large amount of metal, Ancheta said. A shopping cart was among the items found yesterday.
State health officials told police the water might be polluted with leptospirosis and E. coli bacteria, Ancheta said. The divers had to be sure they had no open cuts, and wore work pants over their dive suits.
Aki gave police two conflicting statements between Friday and Sunday nights. His first statement implicated two other suspects, who were released without being charged.
"The physical evidence aligns better with the second statement," said Lt. Bill Kato, supervisor of Honolulu Police Department homicide investigations.
Aki told police he punched the girl because she had slapped him, and that he continued to beat her with a pipe found in the parking lot of the 'Aiea park, sources said.
They also confirmed that Aki admitted to poking the girl with the pipe.
Police processed Aki's car for evidence last weekend, but Kato declined comment when asked if the weapon could be a tire iron.
The investigation is continuing despite Aki's confession because of some apparent inaccuracies in his second statement, such as what happened to the six to nine gold bracelets the girl was wearing.
Aki told police he tossed the bracelets, reportedly valued between $2,000 and $3,000, in a trash can. Police said yesterday they were not looking for the bracelets in the Halawa Stream search.
Pearl City Pawn and Jewelry shop owner Gordon Moore said yesterday that police make weekly checks at pawn shops for stolen items, but he said Wednesday that police had told him they were looking specifically for Kahealani's missing jewelry.
"It's a normal routine. It's just that this particular occasion, they were looking for the jewelry from the girl, and said they were hitting all of the pawn shops on this side of the island," Moore said.
In his statements to police, Aki also admitted to using crystal methamphetamine the day before killing the girl, according to a police source.
A person using drugs and then dumping jewelry does not add up, police said.
Although the girl's bracelets are missing, other jewelry items, such as her earrings, were not.
Aki, who is being held on $5 million bail, is expected to plead not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder at his scheduled arraignment Monday in Circuit Court.
