Police testify man said 'I shot my daughter'

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A man accused of fatally shooting his 8-year-old daughter in Na'alehu last Easter alternately told police that he was Jesus Christ, God and Satan, police testified yesterday in Hilo District Court.

Douglas John Fathke is charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of his daughter Kelsie.

Fathke is charged with second-degree murder in the April 20 slaying of his daughter Kelsie. No motive has been made public, but Fathke's ex-wife, Memarie Dhillon, has said Fathke has a history of mental illness.

Fathke was once hospitalized in Tacoma, Wash., for his strange behavior, and at the time claimed to be "walking with God" because he believed he had a divine connection, said Dhillon, who was married to Fathke from 1989 to 1999.

After Fathke was examined by a three-member panel of experts, a judged ruled in October that he was mentally fit to proceed with the criminal case.

During questioning at Fathke's preliminary hearing yesterday, police officer William Doar testified that when he knocked on the door of Becky's Bed & Breakfast in Na'alehu after the shooting, Fathke initially said he had accidentally fired his rifle outside the house. Fathke ran the bed-and-breakfast from his home.

When Doar entered the house, he said Fathke held out his wrists and said, "Take me."

Doar opened a bedroom door and saw Kelsie's body on a bed.

A police sergeant who entered the room by another door then asked what had happened, and Fathke replied, "I shot my daughter," Doar testified.

Fathke also is accused of attempted murder and terroristic threatening for allegedly attacking a 16-year-old boy who was staying at the B&B at the time of the shooting.

He is being held at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center. His preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue Dec. 3.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.