Kona police arrest murder suspect

Advertiser Staff

KEALAKEHE, Hawai'i — Kona police have arrested a 28-year-old man for investigation of murder in the death of a man whose body was found Thursday along the road to Makalawena Beach near Keahole.

The dead man, identified as Michael Rhett Hackmeyer, 39, of Kailua, Kona, had been missing since April 1, athough family members didn't report his absence until just hours before his body was found, said Lt. Henry Hickman.

The suspect, a man with a Kona Highlands address in North Kona, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. today and remained in police custody this afternoon.

Hackmeyer's partially decomposed body was discovered along Makalawena Beach Road about 5:30 p.m. Thursday by a family who called police. There was no identification near the body, and Hackmeyer was later identified through fingerprints, Hickman said.

An autopsy concluded that the victim died of severe head injuries, and police reclassified the case from a coroner's inquest to murder.

Big Island detectives and members of the FBI's Evidence Response Team are continuing to investigate.