Prosecutors charged an 83-year-old Canadian yesterday with stabbing his wife to death in their Waikiki time-share condo. He is the oldest person officials could recall ever being charged with murder in Hawai'i.

Ted Jandura of Edmonton, Alberta, was charged under the heinous section of Hawai'i criminal law. Ingeborg Jandura, 82, had been stabbed many times Sunday, an autopsy determined yesterday. His bail was set at $1 million.

A court affidavit said Jandura calmly answered the door Sunday morning when Honolulu police rang the doorbell to the 13th-floor apartment at the Ilikai Waikiki Hotel.

Police officer Steven Fong said in the affidavit that he and officer Frank Flores were responding at 9:25 a.m. to a report of an argument in the apartment. Fong said he saw several small spots of blood on Jandura's forehead.

"Is everything all right?" the officers asked.

"No, my wife is dead. I killed her," Jandura replied, according to the affidavit, filed yesterday in Honolulu District Court.

The officers found Ingeborg Jandura's body at the end of a bed near the balcony door.

Circuit Judge Michael Town, a criminal judge since 1994, does not recall an older murder defendant in his 27 years on the bench.

"I don't recall any cases with a defendant of that age, but there may be one," Town said.

An autopsy yesterday determined that Ingeborg Jandura died of injuries to neck blood vessels, lung and heart, from multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at 9:54 a.m. in apartment 1331 at the Ilikai.

If convicted under the "heinous" statute, Jandura could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Janduras have been coming to Hawai'i for many years and arrived Dec. 21 for their annual three-month stay, police said.

Ted Jandura, who has numbers tattooed on his arm, reportedly told people at the hotel he is a survivor of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, witnesses said.

The Edmonton Journal said Jandura is a retired millwright — one who designs, builds or repairs mills or mill machinery. He also invested in real estate.

He is scheduled to make an initial appearance today at District Court and has a preliminary hearing scheduled Thursday. The hearing may be waived if he is indicted by an O'ahu grand jury.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.