Big Island policeman held in wife's slaying

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 10-year veteran of the Hawai'i County Police Department is accused of chasing his wife down and shooting her to death Friday.

Albert Pacheco, a 45-year-old Waikoloa resident, was in police custody yesterday at the Hilo police cellblock. He was arrested without incident on Lina Poepoe Street in Waikoloa, the scene of the shooting.

Pacheco's wife, Cathalene Ann Pacheco, 42, was pronounced dead Friday evening at Hilo Medical Center, shortly after the police officer was taken into custody.

Police believe that Pacheco intentionally rammed his wife's car, blocking her in, Assistant Police Chief Wendell Paiva said. The detective is suspected of then shooting her repeatedly.

Mary Jane Tonge, a retired resident of Lina Poepoe Street, said she and her husband heard the two cars "chasing around" in the neighborhood Friday evening and then heard one car bang into the other shortly after 7 p.m.

"But then we heard gunshots, so we didn't go out and look," Tonge said.

The police arrived shortly after the shooting and stayed until late yesterday morning, she said.

Wayne McCarthy, a naturopathic doctor who also lives on Lina Poepoe Street, said he arrived home after Cathalene Pacheco was killed but before the police arrived. He didn't realize anyone had been shot, and thought he had stumbled onto a traffic accident outside his front gate. He decided to try to help.

"I saw a man standing by one of the vehicles and I walked over to him and told him I was a doctor," McCarthy said.

The man, who was holding a cell phone in his hands, told him shots had been fired, McCarthy said. Although he was not wearing a uniform, something about the man made McCarthy think he was talking to a policeman.

McCarthy said he started to walk toward the other vehicle, which was still running and had its lights on. As he approached, he could see that the window on the driver's side had been shattered. McCarthy said something made him hesitate, and the man spoke again.

"He said: 'There is no point looking in there,' " McCarthy said. "Then I saw there were cartridge cases on the ground and realized that someone had been shot."

McCarthy asked the man if he was a policeman. The man said he was. McCarthy asked what had happened, and the man said that for legal reasons, he was unable to tell him.

McCarthy said he concluded that the officer, who appeared distraught and described himself as "not in my right mind," had shot someone in the line of duty. He said he put his hand on the officer's hand, which was still holding the cell phone, and asked him if he could get him a glass of water or do anything to help.

"He said, 'Do you pray to Jesus?' and I said yes," McCarthy said. "He said, 'Go into your house and pray to Jesus for me.' "

"I did," McCarthy said. "And then the police came and handcuffed him and took him away."

McCarthy said he was quite upset when he learned the man was accused of running down his wife and shooting her.

McCarthy said his 14-year-old daughter had heard the crash and was on her way to the gate when the bullets started to fly. She ran back inside.

"What makes people's lives so bad they fly off into violent rages?" McCarthy asked. "What a tragedy for that family."

"And you can just imagine," he said of Pacheco, "what he is going through right now?"

An autopsy will be conducted today to determine the exact cause of death.

Assistant Chief Paiva said Pacheco, who worked as a detective in the Kona Criminal Investigation Section for the past year, has been a Big Island officer for about 10 years. Pacheco was off duty at the time of the shooting.