Police arrested and charged a 20-year-old man this week in a downtown Honolulu stabbing death that occurred more than a year ago.

Sheldon Amuo was charged with the stabbing of Samio Saingo during a fight at about 1:30 a.m. on July 17 last year outside a bar on South Pauahi Street near Fort Street Mall.

Police said it took more than a year to capture Amuo because he has numerous names and he fled the island after the stabbing.

"We didn't know where he was on the Mainland," said homicide Detective Larry Tamashiro of the Honolulu Police Department.

Police arrested Amuo Tuesday without incident at his mother's home on Kalaunu Street, Tamashiro said.

"According to the family, he was here maybe a couple of weeks," Tamashiro said.

Amuo's numerous names — Sheldon Amuo, Memes Amuo and Mesin Farata — initially made tracking him difficult, Tamashiro said.

"We had no arrest record of him here," Tamashiro said. "We had no picture of him at all. I think he went to school here a little while. I know he didn't graduate from high school."

Tamashiro said he doesn't know how long Amuo has lived in Hawai'i.

Police learned Amuo's correct name from his brother, Wanten Farata, Tamashiro said.

In July 2005, police obtained a photo of Amuo from the Spokane, Wash., police department, according to a police affidavit filed in court. Amuo had been arrested there in 2003 on suspicion of assault, the affidavit said.

The photo helped police identify Amuo before they arrested him Tuesday, according to the affidavit.

Throughout the past year, investigators heard rumors that Amuo was living in Washington state and later in Oregon, Tamashiro said. However, they were unable to track him down.

"We were doing a lot of things, but the thing is we had no idea where he was," Tamashiro said.

Amuo was charged with second-degree murder on Thursday. His bail was set at $100,000.

Reach Robert Shikina at rshikina@honoluluadvertiser.com.