Big Island suspect has record of mental illness
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Douglas John Fathke, the Na'alehu man accused of fatally shooting his 8-year-old daughter on Easter Sunday, has a history of mental illness and was once committed to a hospital because of his strange behavior, according to his ex-wife.
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Memarie Dhillon, who was married to Fathke from 1989 to 1999, said he called her house in Tacoma, Wash., three times on the day of the slaying, and left messages on her answering machine in which he wept and apologized for the trouble he had caused her.
Kelsie Fathke had been staying in Na'alehu as part of a joint custody arrangement between her parents.
Yesterday, Kona police charged Fathke, 44, with the murder of the couple's daughter, Kelsie Fathke. Police said the murder weapon was a .30-caliber rifle. He is also charged with attempted murder and terroristic threatening in the attack on a 16-year-old boy who was staying with the family at Becky's Bed & Breakfast, which Fathke operated.
Bail is set at $550,000, and Fathke is scheduled to make a court appearance in Hilo this afternoon.
Police said Fathke shot his daughter in the head as she lay in bed. The shooting stunned tiny Na'alehu, where Fathke was regarded as a doting, gentle father. One neighbor who knew the family described him as a "teddy bear."
Kelsie had been staying in Na'alehu for about nine months as part of a joint custody arrangement between her parents, and was scheduled to return to Dhillon in July.
Friends in Tacoma have established a fund to help return Kelsie's body to the Mainland and pay for her funeral. Donations can be made to benefit Kelsie Marie Fathke at Washington Mutual Bank, 17404 Meridian East, Suite A, Puyallup, WA 98375.
Kona detectives said yesterday the motive is not clear. However, they said there was no apparent connection between the daughter and the 16-year-old boy.
Fund started to help return body
Dhillon said Fathke was never violent before, but that she had been told by his family that he struggled with mental illness before they met in the late 1980s. Fathke seemed to use religion to help in his recovery, becoming deeply involved in a church for a time, she said.
Dhillon said she finally had him hospitalized for a week at the mental health ward at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Tacoma about a year after Kelsie was born because of his bizarre behavior.
"He was like delusional; he would ask me for permission to use the bathroom, to have a cigarette, anything," she said. "It was like he wasn't his own person; like he was a child or something."
Fathke also believed he was "walking with God" and that he had a special divine connection, she said.
As dramatic as the personality change was, Fathke wasn't threatening, and he actually became quite meek, Dhillon said. She said he received medication from the hospital, which he took until it ran out.
"That was like six and a half or seven years ago. We all thought he was fine," she said. "We haven't seen anything like this for a long time. If I had known of any behavior like this, I would have never allowed her to go over there."
The morning of the shooting, Fathke left a message on Dhillon's answering machine that was weepy and apologetic. He called back later and left a very different message, calmly wishing Dhillon well now that she has remarried and has a 16-month-old baby.
When he called a third time, Dhillon answered "and I could tell he was a little out there, overly religious and talking about healing and stuff like that, like God had given him a gift," she said.
He also talked about sending Kelsie back to Tacoma in July, and said he didn't have the money, but would get it together to buy her a plane ticket.
He wished Dhillon a happy Easter, and promised to have Kelsie call when she got up. Kelsie did call her mother later, but cut the conversation short because she wanted to go on an Easter egg hunt, Dhillon said.
Police responded to reports of gunshots at the bed-and-breakfast at 11:46 a.m. and found the mortally wounded child.
