Updated at 7:22 a.m., Thursday, January 31, 2008
Convicted murderer indicted on Big Isle for '87 killing
Advertiser Staff
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Big Island prosecutors plan to bring Frank Charles Janto, 45, back from a Mainland detention facility to be tried for murder.
A custodian found Chiquita's body lying on a bathroom floor at a gasoline service station on Kino'ole Street in Hilo on Jan. 15, 1987.
The investigation into Chiquita's murder had not yielded any clues until Big Island detectives recently received information from Honolulu Police Department homicide investigators.
While investigating the brutal murder of 56-year-old Bongak "Jackie" Koja, investigators in Honolulu recognized some similarities between the Koja killing and the Chiquita case, and knew Janto had lived on the Big Island for some time.
Koja was on a walk in the early morning hours of June 9, 1997, when she was attacked and killed at Leilehua High School.
Nearby residents apparently mistook a five-minute-long series of screams they heard for rowdy teenagers.
During their investigation, Honolulu detectives learned that Janto dragged Koja's body to the back of the school and dumped her in a trash bin. Later that day, the trash bin was taken to the H-Power plant at Campbell Industrial Park. Her remains were never recovered.
Janto was convicted of her murder and sentenced in 1998 to life in prison. An appeal was dismissed/withdrawn in October 2001.
