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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 9:49 p.m., Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Woman beaten to death in Kailua; suspect arrested

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

KAILUA — A woman, 30, died from injuries suffered when she was beaten on Maluniu Avenue by her former boyfriend.

The woman was in critical condition to Castle Medical Center, where she died at about 6 p.m., said Honolulu Emergency Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic. The male neighbor who tried to help the victim and was struck in the head with the butt of a shotgun butt was taken to Castle in stable condition.

Police arrested Alapeti Siuanu Tunoa Jr., 30, of an Ala Ilima address in Salt Lake on suspicion of second-degree murder at 7:05 p.m. Tunoa, who stands 6-feet-2 and weighs 340 pounds, fled from Maluniu Avenue in a black Ford Explorer and police found him hiding in Kaneohe in the backyard of a Likeke Place residence.

Second-degree murder charges are pending.

According to police, the victim is Tunoa's former girlfriend and mother of his child.

Tunoa allegedly went to Maluniu Avenue yesterday and waited for the woman to pick up the child at a babysitter's home, police said.

He then sped up and rammed her white car on Maluniu Avenue near Kawainui Street. Tunoa allegedly chased the woman down, punched her and beat her with the butt of a shotgun.

The male neighbor who tried to help the woman was struck in the back of the head with the gun.

According to Hawai'i Criminal Justice Center records, Tunoa has two prior convictions — first-degree robbery in July 1996 and second-degree roibbery in July 1995.

The homicide is the second this year and both are domestic violence related.

Roy William Hartsock, 40, was charged with fatally stabbing his wife, Jenny T. Hartsock, last week at their Gulick Avenue apartment buiilding in Kalihi. Hartsock is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center.