Accounts differ in Puna killings
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Police reports on two suspects charged with the murder last month of two Puna men appear to offer conflicting accounts of the shootings.
The bodies of Cassidy Toole, 20, and Wesley Matheson, 19, were found May 30 in a vacant lot on Lehua Street in the Fern Acres subdivision. Police said both men were shot in the head sometime around May 6.
A police report filed in South Hilo District Court yesterday said that Kyle Zengy Thurston Hill, 19, of Pahoa, told detectives he used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot one of the men "while standing outside" the victims' residence on Anthurium Street in Fern Acres and then shot the other "who was lying on the floor" in the home.
A separate police report filed to support murder charges against co-defendant John McGovern, 18, said McGovern admitted shooting the victims and dumping their bodies in the empty lot.
McGovern also was seen driving Toole's car, police said.
A motive for the slayings has not been revealed. The four men were acquainted.
More details about the shootings are expected to emerge during Hill's preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Hill and McGovern are each charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. McGovern is also charged with auto theft and marijuana possession; Hill is charged with resisting arrest.
Both are being held without bail at the Hawai'i County Correctional Center.
Hill was in court yesterday for a brief arraignment before District Judge Sandra Schutte. McGovern was arraigned Monday and will have his preliminary hearing June 28.
Hill, whose parents live in Kona near Kailua, was arrested Sunday afternoon and charged Tuesday. He is a native of Arkansas who has lived in Hawai'i for 13 years.
Although charges against the two suspects name Toole and Matheson as the victims, police had been waiting to officially confirm the identity of the bodies found a week ago.
Police Lt. Derek Pacheco said yesterday that dental records obtained from Oklahoma had confirmed Toole's identity. Investigators are still awaiting Matheson's dental records from Arkansas, he said.
