Deputy Attorney General Christopher Young, supervisor of the Criminal Justice Division, yesterday said it is too soon to know if his office can file new charges in the case. The case is one of the first handled by the unit, which formed in June.

"We are going to begin a review of the merits of the case," he said. "We will use the resources available to us through this unit to make a review of the case and determine its viability for charging."

There is no timetable, he said.

"This case has been around for many years," he said. "We are not going to rush its review."

Bustamante was murdered on March 14, 1975, after she and a friend — 13-year-old Cherry Verdugo — were kidnapped in Kailua at gunpoint and driven to a remote area behind the Pali Golf Course, according to court records.

The driver forced Bustamante into the back seat and raped her.

Delmar Edmonds

She heard a gunshot as she ran.

No one was charged in the case until July 2001, when Honolulu police renewed its investigation after receiving a tip in 2000. It would lead to the indictment and extradition of Delmar Edmonds, an Indiana custodian who had been interviewed by police as a possible suspect in the days following the murder.

At the time of the murder, Edmonds was a Marine stationed at Kane'ohe.

But the case unraveled when the prosecutor's office failed to bolster their evidence through DNA testing. A month before trial, all charges against Edmonds were dismissed "without prejudice," which allows for the possibility of a new indictment.

City Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader, who handled the case, yesterday said the attorney general's office has resources the prosecutor's office does not have and that transferring the case made good sense.

"They are an extremely highly experienced investigative group over there," Trader said. "Most of those guys are retired HPD homicide detectives. I can't think of a much better group of people to be looking at those types of cases."

Many of the investigators were involved in the case when it surfaced in 2000 and at least one of them was involved back in 1975, Trader said.

The failure of the case two years ago was unexpected, but Trader would not say if the new review makes him optimistic.

"Everyone involved in this case — investigators and the family and the surviving victim — all of us were extremely disappointed that we weren't able to take this matter to trial and conclude it," Trader said.

Trader said Bustamante's family was told of the decision.

He also told Verdugo, the surviving victim who is now married, has a family and lives in California.

Trader discussed the transfer with Verdugo this summer and last week sent her a letter to confirm the decision. In his letter, he called the decision "bittersweet," but was upbeat, too, encouraged by a fresh set of eyes on the case.

"On the other hand, however, we are also mindful of the fact that this further review by the attorney general's office will undoubtedly take some time to complete," he wrote. "The end result being that this requires you and Dede's family to continue to wait patiently for a decision."

Verdugo declined to comment for this story.