After throwing a toddler to his death from a freeway overpass using just one hand Thursday, Matthew Higa lingered for a moment, then walked away smoking a cigarette, according to court documents.

Higa, 23, was held yesterday on $1 million bail after being charged with the second-degree murder of 23-month-old Cyrus Belt. The two lived in the same Punchbowl area apartment building within walking distance of where the murder took place, police said.

Also yesterday, the state Department of Human Services released the complete records of its child welfare system dealings with Cyrus and his mother, Nancy Chanco.

More than 185 pages of documents detail six years of department records for the family, including cases in which Cyrus was first removed from the family and then returned a short time later.

In one document written shortly after Cyrus was born, for instance, department workers concluded that Chanco's three children, including Cyrus, were at "severe risk for serious/fatal harm" because both the mother and father had a significant history of drug use and domestic violence.

The child's father, David Belt, is serving a five-year sentence for drug offenses at the Waiawa minimum security facility.

"Caregiver has not, will not or cannot provide sufficient supervision to protect the child from substantial or imminent harm," one investigator concluded. "Substance abuse prevents caregiver from protecting or providing for the child," another document said.

Another document suggests that Chanco was using both marijuana and methamphetamines while she was pregnant with Cyrus.

Chanco was referred to DHS counseling services and the case was closed, the documents show.

DHS Director Lillian Koller last night said she was personally investigating the case.

"Everyone in Hawai'i is shocked by this loss and is seeking answers as to how this could have happened," Koller said in a statement.

"Therefore, over the last few days I have instructed my staff to examine each and every record in our child welfare system related to this incident. ... Our intention in making these records public is not to blame anyone for their action or inaction. Rather, we hope to collectively determine if there was anything that could have been done to save the life of this child."

Court documents filed in connection with the murder charge show that a number of people witnessed the moments before and after the killing and helped lead police to Higa.

At least one witness said he saw Higa, dressed in green hospital scrubs, use just one hand to toss the toddler over the fence on the Miller Street overpass. Then "he observed the same male walking back across the overpass with nothing in his hands," police said.

On the west-bound lanes of the freeway below, the child's body was struck by a car. The driver told police he saw the man on the overpass, then watched something fall in front of his vehicle. He only discovered that he had hit a child when he stopped and parked on the side of the road, police said.

Police responding to the report of the incident said several people helped them locate Higa. Those people followed him on foot and a bicycle, giving officers a description.

"That's him. That's the guy walking over there," one of the witnesses told police.

Higa, hiding in bushes near 513 Prospect St., was taken into custody less than half an hour after the death, police said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people touched by the boy's death continued to visit the pedestrian overpass yesterday and share their grief.

Police said so many flowers, toys and other offerings on the pedestrian overpass were a distraction to drivers on the freeway below. They asked the public to leave memorial material at one end of the overpass, out of view of the drivers.

"This is the love Hawai'i has," said Holly Bento of Kaimuki, one of those stopping by.

At the makeshift overpass memorial yesterday afternoon, many people said they were there to pray for the family, but others also wanted to see justice done.

David Morita said he was so angered by the crime that he had to visit the spot.

"I'm bothered. I can't sleep at night," Morita said. "I want that guy dead for what he did. I've got to go to church tomorrow. I've got to talk with my pastor."

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.