HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
KONA CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION
LIEUTENANT HENRY W. HICKMAN
PHONE: 326-4203
APRIL 16, 2003
H-45080
CASEY EASON
…charged with murder
MEDIA RELEASE UPDATE
Kona detectives charged a 28-year-old man with second-degree murder shortly after midnight Wednesday (April 16, 2003) in the death of Michael Rhett Hackmeyer.
At 12:05 a.m., Kona Criminal Investigation Section detectives charged Casey Eason, of a Kona Highlands address in North Kona, with second-degree murder. Eason’s bail was set at $250,000.
Eason had been arrested at 6:30 a.m. Monday in the death of Hackmeyer, whose partially decomposed body was found Thursday (April 10, 2003) along the road to Makalawena Beach by a family who called police. Earlier Thursday, the victim’s family had reported him missing since April 1.
There was no identification near the body, and Hackmeyer was later identified through fingerprints. An autopsy concluded that the victim had died of severe head injuries consistent with foul play, and police reclassified the case from a coroner’s inquest to a murder.
Kona CIS detectives are continuing their investigation into Hackmeyer’s death.
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