honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Death followed jail release


BY Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
spacer spacer

The day before the nude body of a 25-year-old New Mexico college student was discovered on a Waikiki beach last week, the man being held in connection with the case was released from a federal jail in Honolulu.

Aaron M. Susa was released from the Honolulu Federal Detention Center Thursday after serving a four-month term for parole violation, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.

About 6 a.m. the next day, the body of Bryanna Antone was discovered by a man jogging on the beach fronting the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Police took Susa into custody Monday after identifying him as a "person of interest" in Antone's death.

Witnesses have told police that they saw Susa and Antone leaving the Waikiki Ohana West Hotel together about 1:40 a.m. Friday.

Charges have not been filed and the medical examiner's office has not released the cause of Antone's death.

Antone, who attended the College of Santa Fe where she studied film, was visiting Honolulu to celebrate her birthday and join her family at a dentists' convention.

Susa, 31, is a native of San Diego and has a criminal record.

He served a three-year prison term in Missouri after he was convicted on burglary charges, according to an online database of criminal convictions.

In March 2005, he pleaded guilty to drug charges in Honolulu Circuit Court after he was arrested in Waikiki for possessing crystal methamphetamine.

He was sentenced to five years of probation.

State court records show that Susa violated the terms of his probation several times over the years for failing to report to his probation officer and for being arrested for public drunkenness.

In June, Deputy Prosecutor Rochelle Vidinha asked Circuit Judge Richard Pollack to revoke his probation for harassment. Pollack instead sentenced him to four months in prison.

That prison term ended last Thursday.

Susa last night was in the custody of police and was at a hospital for treatment of an undisclosed ailment.

Police say they found Susa Monday afternoon in Makiki, hiding in bushes near Lunalilo and Liholiho streets.