Posted on: Thursday, June 13, 2002

Police Beat

Murder suspect's name misspelled

Navy investigators are awaiting autopsy findings before releasing more information about the slayings of a Pearl Harbor sailor's wife and mother-in-law.

Navy officials corrected the spelling of the murder suspect's last name yesterday.

Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell of Navy Region Hawai'i said the sailor being held at the Ford Island brig is David Allen Dearmond, a 32-year-old petty officer second class who is a hull technician at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The Navy had released an incorrect spelling of Dearmond's last name, she said.

The bodies of Dearmond's 31-year-old wife, Zaleha, and mother-in-law, Saniah Binte Abdul Ghani, were found in the couple's Hokulani subdivision home on Monday.

The Dearmonds' three young children have been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

Driver critical after car crash on Kaua'i

A 44-year-old man was hospitalized yesterday after his car ran off the road and overturned on Kaua'i.

The 12:30 a.m. accident occurred in the westbound lanes of Kaumuali'i Highway between the mile 7 and 8 markers, police said.

The driver was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital in critical condition. He was later transported to The Queen's Medical Center.

Would-be jewel robber thwarted

A man wearing a black ski mask escaped Monday night after unsuccessfully trying to rob a jewelry store at the Ala Moana Hotel.

After a clerk refused his demand for jewelry at 9 p.m., the man allegedly tried to break through a glass case using a screwdriver.

He fled on foot after a security guard spotted him, police said.