Police say teen admitted Puna slayings
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The man charged in a Big Island double homicide admitted shooting two men at their Mountain View home in rural Puna and dumping their bodies in a vacant lot, police say.
Hawai'i County Police Department photo
According to a police report filed yesterday in South Hilo District Court, John McGovern, 18, showed an unnamed individual where the bodies of Cassidy Toole, 20, and Wesley Matheson, 19, were dumped, and was seen driving a car belonging to one of the victims.
John McGovern, a former Iowa man, 18, was arrested and charged with murder.
McGovern confessed to the killings Saturday following his arrest in Kailua, according to the report by Lt. Randall Medeiros of the Hawai'i County Police Department.
A second suspect, a 19-year-old man with no permanent address, was arrested Sunday but had not been charged as of yesterday. He was being held at the Hilo police cellblock. Police have 48 hours from the time of arrest to either release or charge a suspect.
No motive for the shootings has been revealed, although the police report indicates McGovern knew the two victims, who shared a home on Anthurium Street in the Fern Acres subdivision.
A criminal complaint said Toole and Matheson were killed between May 5 and 8, although the police report states the shootings occurred May 6.
The victims' decomposing bodies were found by police Thursday afternoon in an empty lot off Lehua Street in Fern Acres. An autopsy determined they died of gunshot wounds to the head.
Toole originally was from Oklahoma and Matheson from Arkansas. It is not known how long the two men had lived on the Big Island.
During a brief court appearance yesterday before Judge Sandra Schutte, McGovern, formerly of Clinton, Iowa, waived his right for a reading of the charges against him. He also agreed to forgo his right to speedy proceedings to allow court-appointed defense attorney Stanton Oshiro time to prepare for a preliminary hearing, which was postponed until June 28. McGovern is being held without bail at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Facility.
Because there is more than one victim, he is charged with first-degree murder, which carries a term of life imprisonment without parole, as well as alternate charges of two counts of second-degree murder, in addition to firearms, theft and drug charges.
First deputy prosecutor Charlene Iboshi yesterday declined any comment beyond the records filed in court.
The police report by Medeiros said that McGovern "freely admitted" shooting the men.
Police last month issued several public appeals for information about the whereabouts of the two young men, saying they were last seen at about 7 a.m. May 8 hitchhiking near the scene of a single-car accident in Ka'u.
At the time, police said it appeared that the two men had been riding in a black 2001 Honda Civic LX two-door sedan that ran into a ditch near the 70-mile marker of Mamalahoa Highway in the South Point area.
Toole and Matheson were believed to have left the car in the ditch and a witness reported seeing them being picked up by a red sedan as they were hitchhiking along the highway.
The Honda Civic was later found stripped of its tires and rims, bucket seats, stereo and battery.
McGovern was identified as a possible witness early in the investigation, as police issued an announcement May 16 seeking information on his whereabouts. They arrested him the following day in the Glenwood area of Puna on an outstanding warrant for contempt of court.
After being questioned by detectives, McGovern was released on $50 bail.
