Suspect Charged With Murder 02-20-01

HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
HILO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION
LIEUTENANT DEREK D. PACHECO
PHONE: 961-2252
FEBRUARY 20, 2001
G-58267
MURDER

MEDIA RELEASE UPDATE

Police detectives charged a 16-year-old male suspect Tuesday (February 20, 2001) with second-degree murder in the slaying of a Japanese national.

Hilo Criminal Investigation Section detectives also identified the victim as Tetsuya Takahashi, 20, of Fuchu City, Tokyo, Japan. They had been withholding the victim’s name until his next of kin could be identified.

Detectives said the results of an autopsy performed Tuesday determined that the victim died of blunt force trauma to the head.

The suspect, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with murder at 2:55 p.m. and arraigned the same afternoon in the Hilo Family Court.

Police said that after they arrested the suspect, they discovered that he was wanted on an outstanding warrant issued on February 25, 2000, by the Family Court of the First Circuit on Oahu. The warrant, issued for failure to appear in court, was never forwarded to the Big Island police.

The suspect was arrested within 36 hours after Takahashi’s body had been found Sunday near the Keaau Underpass in Puna.

Puna patrol officers had found the victim’s body on the shoulder of the road near the Keaau Underpass after responding to a 6:45 a.m. call on Sunday.

The following day, officers arrested the suspect shortly after 4 p.m. after he eluded guards at the Hilo International Airport who had tried to apprehend him after they were alerted that he might try to leave the Big Island.

After searching for the suspect, police officers arrested him in a brush area near the airport parking lot.

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