Man charged in fire, stabbings
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
When Honolulu police and firefighters arrived at 1214 Kainui Drive in Kailua on Monday, they found two women, severely burned and stabbed, in the front yard of a house that was completely ablaze.
The women, Kerry White, 48, and her sister-in-law Sharon White, 58, were quickly loaded into an ambulance bound for The Queen's Medical Center. Before they left, according to court documents released yesterday, Fire Department Capt. Glenn Solem asked Sharon White, "Who did this to you?"
M. WHITE
"Micah, my nephew Micah did it," she said, according to a police affidavit filed in district court yesterday.
Micah White, 20, was charged yesterday with first-degree attempted murder, two counts of attempted murder in the second-degree and first-degree criminal property damage in connection with the fire and stabbings at his Kailua home. He is Sharon White's nephew and Kerry White's son.
If convicted of first-degree attempted murder, Micah White would face a mandatory life term without parole, the state's harshest sentence.
According to the affidavit, Micah's father, Samuel White, told police his son had been thrown out of his house two weeks before Monday's fire because he threatened his mother. The father said his son only recently was allowed to return home.
Samuel White told police that on Monday afternoon, his wife, Kerry, called to tell him that the son was threatening her with a rolling pin, the affidavit said. He arrived home a few minutes later to find his house in flames.
The document also said the two women told ambulance personnel that a family member had set the fire during an argument and fled, leaving them in the burning home.
Police recovered a 30-inch sword from the rubble of the home Tuesday, but police would not comment on whether it was used to attack the women.
According to the affidavit, Micah White called police and arranged his arrest on Wednesday. Police found White at a scenic lookout on the town side of the hairpin turn on Pali Highway after he called H-3 tunnel control from an emergency phone and told the employee on duty that he wanted to turn himself in, the document said.
The Whites' home remained a hazard zone for several days after the fire because of chemicals stored there. Samuel White works for a pool maintenance firm, and chemicals were stored at the house.
Yesterday, Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said the Kailua fire was deliberately set. He confirmed there was a fuel container found and that contents had been submitted for lab testing.
"Burning and charred patterns are similar to that of an ignitable liquid fire," Tejada said.
Advertiser staff writer Rod Ohira contributed to this report.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
