Children sue county, Big Island detective held in slaying of wife

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

The five children of a woman gunned down by her police detective husband have filed a lawsuit against the man and the Hawai'i County Police Department, claiming officials ignored signs he was headed for a psychological meltdown.

Cathalene Pacheco, 43, of Waikoloa, was shot multiple times as she sat in her car Jan. 4. Her husband, Albert Pacheco, remains in custody awaiting trial on charges he murdered the woman after blocking her car with his vehicle on a street near their home.

The lawsuit filed yesterday by the Honolulu law firm Ashford & Wriston claims the county was negligent in hiring Pacheco and in failing to relieve him of his duties when he began to show signs of stress last year.

"Bottom line, Albert Pacheco should not have been allowed, let alone required, to carry a weapon, and his employer should have recognized this," said Dennis Krueger, an attorney for the children.

The victim's oldest child, Shannon Caceres, 24, is the guardian for her three young siblings. Another daughter, Naomi Pacheco, is now 18.

"I strongly believe that police officers must seriously address the code of silence that undermines efforts to hold police accountable for abuse," Caceres said yesterday at a news conference in Honolulu.

Acting Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna and county Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida said yesterday they had not seen the court complaint and they declined to comment.

Pacheco was a Honolulu policeman for 10 years before transferring to the Big Island in 1991, serving in Waimea as a patrolman prior to being promoted to a Kona detective in 1999.

The lawsuit said that Pacheco was known in the police force for having problems with "violence and anger management." Friends also have said that Pacheco abused his wife.

County prosecutors revealed he had been stalking her, and the lawsuit said Pacheco had asked another officer to trail his wife while he was in Honolulu.

The attorneys who filed the lawsuit also said that Pacheco began losing weight last year and appeared "stressed out." Two different officers talked with him about his marital problems, they said.

"At no time did the Hawai'i County Police Department obtain a fitness for duty psychological examination," the lawsuit said.