POLICE BEAT
Man arrested in fatal stabbing
Advertiser Staff
WAIMEA, Kaua'i — A Kaua'i man was arrested yesterday morning in the murder of a Waimea man and the stabbing of a second victim.
Police said Dr. Jon Kerns, 64, of Waimea Valley, died as the result of what appeared to be stab wounds. A second man, also apparently stabbed, was expected to be released from the hospital after treatment yesterday.
Few details were released. Police said they responded to a 10:10 p.m. call Sunday to a home in Waimea Valley, where they found the two victims.
Witnesses identified a man they described as the assailant, and police arrested him yesterday morning. He was expected to be charged today or tomorrow with murder and attempted murder.
Diver found off Kahe identified
Craig Allen Conley, 44, of Ankeny, Iowa, has been identified by the city Department of the Medical Examiner as the scuba diver whose body was found floating off Kahe Point Beach Park before noon Sunday.
Conley's wife told police that she, her husband and two children were diving when the husband surfaced and said he was returning to shore because his legs felt numb.
Fire Department rescue workers, city Ocean Safety personnel and the Coast Guard participated in a search for Conley after his family returned to shore and reported him missing about 1:15 p.m.
A Fire Department helicopter spotted the body about 4 p.m. two miles offshore.
Conley worked as a financial planner in Des Moines, Iowa.
Man charged in shooting
A Waipahu man has been charged with second-degree assault in connection with a shooting Friday that critically injured a 32-year-old 'Aiea man.
Police said Daniel C. Lista of a Hianakiu Street address mishandled a handgun, causing it to go off and shoot the victim in the chest. The incident occurred at a third person's residence, police said.
Lista was arrested initially on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder, but the charges were later reduced to second-degree assault. Lista also was charged with failure to properly store a firearm and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
Bail for Lista was set at $75,000.
He made news in 2001 when a homemade explosive device he was fashioning out of sparklers prematurely detonated.
Lista, who lost his left hand in the blast, was the featured speaker at a December 2003 news conference at U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo's office during which law-enforcement officials cautioned the public about the hazards of fireworks, both legal and illegal. Lista urged children and their parents not to tamper with fireworks.
Pedestrian struck by car identified
The city Department of the Medical Examiner has identified Larry L. Walter, 28, of a Lunalilo Street address as the pedestrian who was fatally injured while trying to cross H-1 Freeway about 9:15 p.m. Friday.
Police said Walter and another man had crossed the east-bound lanes of the freeway near the Houghtailing exit, climbed over the metal barrier and were attempting to cross the west-bound lanes when Walter was struck by a 2005 Lexus sedan.
Walter was taken to The Queen's Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 10:40 p.m.
Police said the 32-year-old man who was driving the car that struck Walter was not speeding and had not been drinking prior to the incident, but that it appears Walter had been drinking.
Walter was the 11th traffic fatality on O'ahu this year compared with 16 last year.
Police seek help finding robber
Police are asking for the public's help in locating a man who robbed a Kapi'olani Boulevard pizza restaurant Feb. 20.
The man walked into the restaurant at 1646 Kapi'olani Blvd. at about 11:15 p.m. with his tank top covering the lower portion of his face, police said. The man demanded money and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The man is in his 20s, 5 feet 6 and 200 pounds, with short red crewcut hair and brown eyes. He has a band-type tattoo on his left bicep and tattoos on his back, police said.
Anyone with information should call police Detective Gordon Makishima at 529-3383 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.
