Schoolmates honor slain girl

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

NA'ALEHU, Hawai'i — Na'alehu School mourned Kelsie Fathke yesterday, offering tears, flowers and music in memory of the 8-year-old girl allegedly slain by her father on Easter Sunday.

Students and staff paid respects and brought flowers to a memorial for Kelsie Fathke in the Na'alehu School gym yesterday. A bulletin board outside Fathke's second-grade classroom also bore about 100 notes and poems. Kevin Dayton • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I may slowly cry, I feel so sad about this," said 10-year-old Marissa Opalinski, reading her poem into a microphone. "She was dear in our hearts. Why did God take her away? We don't understand."

Third-grader Jaykob Fulkerson recalled teaching Kelsie to play Hacky Sack in the schoolyard, and posted a poem to her on a bulletin board outside Fathke's second-grade classroom. About 100 notes and poems for her were posted by mid-morning yesterday.

"This is a special assembly unlike any we've had in our school," said Na'alehu Principal Peter Volpe. "She was a sweet girl and we miss her terribly."

District Court Judge Sandra Schutte Song has ordered a mental examination for Kelsie's father, Douglas John Fathke, 44, who was charged with Kelsie's murder.

According to court records, police who responded to a report of gunshots at Becky's Bed & Breakfast in Na'alehu were greeted by Fathke, who held out his wrists and told officers to take him away. When police asked what had happened, he said he had killed his daughter.

An autopsy determined that Kelsie died of a gunshot wound to the head. Fathke also was charged with terroristic threatening and attempted murder for allegedly trying to strangle a 16-year-old boy who was staying at the bed-and-breakfast, which Fathke operated.

Memarie Dhillon, Fathke's ex-wife, said the man had a history of mental problems going back more than a decade, but had been behaving normally for at least six years. Kelsie had been staying with her father since last year as part of a joint custody arrangement.

Teachers and neighbors said Kelsie, who towered over her second-grade classmates, was a bright, friendly child who was uncomfortable at being so much bigger than the other children.

She was teased about her size, and by some accounts had few friends, but she was active. She went on an outing with her father and girlfriends to a South Point beach the day before the shooting, and neighbors recalled seeing her skating in the street with the neighborhood boys that evening.

Teachers and staff at the school of about 450 students said Fathke's killing prompted questions about death and loss, even among youngsters who didn't know her.

Students pinned yellow and white ribbons to their shirts, the yellow to signify remembrance, and the white to symbolize purity.

For the children, "The big question is, why? And I don't know why," said Tracey Andrade, a reading tutor who works with younger students.

Na'alehu has a population of about 1,000, and in a small school in a small community, everyone felt the loss, Andrade said.

Dan Duffy, Kelsie's second-grade teacher, said his students initially had a difficult time as the adults around them whispered about the case, but have been coming to terms with Kelsie's death.

The school has had counselors on campus and held classroom discussions, and "we've gone into what happened, how these things do happen, and how people do get ill and crazy things do happen," Duffy said.

Na'alehu is a poor community with people struggling with drug addiction and other problems, and "most of the children have enough stories in their own background that there were things that they shared, too," Duffy said.

"Most of them think that she's still with us. A lot of them are very spiritual. Half of the class has guardian angels, so they tell me."

A new address was announced for a fund set up to help with Kelsie's funeral costs. Checks made out to "For the Benefit of Kelsie Fathke" should be sent to Washington Mutual Mail Center, P.O. Box 1106, Northridge, CA 91328-1106.