00:00:09
[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
00:00:17
anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
00:00:23
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website since the tourism boom of the 1950's the
00:00:33
Hawaiian Islands have been enticing tourists into their relaxed laid-back lifestyle from the early days
00:00:40
honeymooners and holiday makers would arrive in droves welcomed by smiling hula dancers with floral leis Hawaii's
00:00:48
made up of 132 islands with a total area of six and a half thousand square miles
00:00:53
the island of Oahu is home to the state's capital Honolulu and the famous Waikiki Beach it has a large port army
00:01:01
and naval bases and his home to Pearl Harbor in 1985 Oahu saw a huge influx of young adults migrate often for the army
00:01:11
or Navy and also due to the huge booming telecommunications companies that had expanded into Hawaii the central years
00:01:19
of that decade were an unusual period between the early eighties recession and the stock market crash of 87 and the
00:01:25
dark years that followed like the mainland and much of the developed world Hawaii was hit with high unemployment
00:01:32
and financial stress in the early eighties many hotels couldn't survive and some of the largest travel companies
00:01:38
were forced to close but during the mid 80s the economy shifted during this small
00:01:44
window there was a temporary period of new growth although there had been a significant decline in tourism since the
00:01:50
boom of the 50s and 60s in the year 1985 in 1986 ten and a half million people visited
00:01:57
the islands of Hawaii this boom period brought in huge Japanese investment and money started
00:02:04
rolling in the grand old hotels of the 50s and 60s were renovated and redeveloped and prime land was
00:02:10
subdivided for golf resorts in 1986 alone Japanese investors spent between one and two billion dollars on property
00:02:19
at the time the Bank of Hawaii considered the offshore investment tremendous as it was pouring in
00:02:24
much-needed dollars and was creating new hope for their island paradise the resort development boom of the
00:02:31
mid-80s helped slow the unemployment rate which had spiked a few years earlier but unemployment wasn't the only thing
00:02:37
that had sparked during this period Hawaii also saw an increase in violent crime rape and murder in particular the
00:02:46
Aloha State with its swaying palm trees a mysterious rich volcanic landscape was
00:02:50
about to change the laid-back paradise was about to experience a time of fear a time no one was prepared for
00:03:02
[Music] at age 25 Vicki Gail Purdy had settled into life in Mililani a small city in
00:03:28
the central part of Oahu half an hour's drive north west of Honolulu Vicki's husband Gary was an army officer in
00:03:36
helicopter pilot and Mililani it was close to wheeler Army Airfield so it was an easy choice to live there they'd been
00:03:43
married five years but had only been living in Hawaii for 16 months vicki was born in North Carolina but by
00:03:51
high school she was living in Georgia Vicki and Gary was 16 years old when they met they met when Vicki married
00:03:58
Gary's cousin but that marriage didn't work out and by high school graduation Vicki and Gary were an item
00:04:04
they married at age 20 bright as Gary was entering the army they had a trouble patch early on in their marriage but
00:04:12
they were able to work through it everyone who knew Vicki would say that although she was only 5 foot 5 and 130
00:04:18
pounds she was feisty and tough during one argument Gary said that she knocked the [ __ ] out of him he felt they had an
00:04:26
adventurous and sometimes tumultuous marriage but they were happy in Hawaii Vicki had always dreamt of living on the
00:04:34
islands and when the opportunity came up for Gary to work there there was no hesitation their problems were behind
00:04:41
them and they looked forward to their new life together but it turns out island life wasn't what Vicki thought it
00:04:47
would be Vicki was outgoing and - like life on the go and she struggled to adjust to
00:04:54
the more laid-back lifestyle but she managed to settle in and in mid 1985 she was working at while he WA adult video
00:05:01
store which had an adjoining adult bookstore and an adjoining family videos thought it was located just north of
00:05:08
Mililani into his right near wheeler Army Airfield freakin enjoyed visiting the famous
00:05:15
Waikiki Beach to go clubbing with friends she often caught the bus but on the evening of Wednesday May 29th 1985
00:05:22
she decided to drive she kissed Gary goodbye at 6 p.m. and walked out of the house wearing a yellow
00:05:28
jumpsuit with a red belt gary thought she was planning to return home about 9:00 p.m.
00:05:34
Vicki drove to a busy what keiki hotel the shorebird and parked her car in the hotel's garage her exact movements after
00:05:42
that are unknown she was supposed to meet up with friends and she called them around to 10:00 p.m. to confirm but she
00:05:49
never ended up meeting with them a taxi driver in Waikiki drove Vicki back to the shorebird hotel to collect her car
00:05:57
at the end of the night he dropped her off there around midnight around this time gary was at home
00:06:04
worried about Vicki and he called her pager over and over when she didn't return home Gary was frantic
00:06:12
the next morning he went to Waikiki to search for her he found her car still parked in the
00:06:18
garage of the shorebird hotel there was a new dent in the car but there was no sign of Vicki later that morning Vicki's
00:06:27
body was found on an embankment at the KA hewlet Geun a lagoon and boat harbor which sits right along the eastern side
00:06:34
of Honolulu Airport the road that hugs the lagoon at this location goes towards the runway known as a reef runway
00:06:40
because it runs straight into the water vicki was lying on the shoreline near the mouth of Moanalua stream still
00:06:49
dressed in her yellow jumpsuit her hands were bound behind her back a post-mortem
00:06:54
revealed she had been raped and strangled as part of their investigation police looked into her place of
00:07:02
employment at the adult video store the reason why this was of interest to them is because there had been a double
00:07:08
homicide six months earlier just before vicki started working there on December 16th 1984 the store's owner Carol Drake
00:07:17
and the manager Terry Lee was stabbed to death in the back office with money stolen cash receipts missing and another
00:07:25
envelope of cash dropped in the store police are certain there was a robbery homicide blood spatter indicated that
00:07:32
they were kneeling or sitting close to the floor when they were killed and if the bloodied knife was left at the scene
00:07:38
no one in the adjoining family video store or the adult bookstore heard anything that afternoon that case was
00:07:45
still unsolved and with Vicki now being found murdered after taking up employment in the video store it didn't
00:07:52
seem that far-fetched to think the murders could be related police closely examined both cases and
00:07:58
tried to establish a link but when it came down to it they were unable to find enough similarities no other woman
00:08:06
killed in the video store was sexually assaulted they weren't bound and they weren't
00:08:10
strangled both were attacked inside the workplace and both were killed with one stab wound deep
00:08:16
a totally different and though to Vicky's murder Vicky's husband Gary still worried there
00:08:22
could be a link to the video store but police felt the two cases were nothing more than a coincidence the
00:08:29
investigation continued but months went by without any leads or advances while that's on Gary had left Oahu saying he
00:08:37
would only return if someone was brought to justice he felt he had no reason to state without Vee by the beginning of
00:08:47
1986 Honolulu had seen no other signs that there was any danger in the community the murder of Vicky Purdy was
00:08:54
put down to a random act of violence the investigation was still open but police were no closer to catching the
00:09:00
killer seventeen-year-old Regina Sakamoto was a senior at Leilehua high school and was
00:09:07
planning to attend Hawaii Pacific University later that year she was shy but confident amongst though she knew
00:09:14
described as smart fun-loving and everybody's friend Regina was born in Kansas but moved to Hawaii after her mom
00:09:22
remarried by 1986 Regina's mother and her stepdad had separated and so she lived with her mum and brother in what
00:09:30
PAHO fifteen minutes south of Mililani where vicki least she was very close to her mother and her little brother Omar
00:09:37
who was only ten at the time on the morning of January 14th 1986 Regina was late for school she called her boyfriend
00:09:47
a quarter past 7:00 in the morning from a phone booth and told him she was going
00:09:51
to be late because she missed her bus she was seen by a witness at the phone booth near her bus stop in front of
00:09:57
diners diner in Waipahu but that was the last time anyone saw or heard from her her family raised the alarm when she
00:10:07
didn't return home from school that day they weren't aware at the time but she never actually made it to school at 10
00:10:15
a.m. the following morning a fisherman found Regina's body floating near the Diamondhead end of the reef runway at
00:10:21
Honolulu Airport less than one mile from where Vicki Purdy was found seven months
00:10:25
earlier Regina was naked from the waist down one of the investigators immediately noticed
00:10:34
the similarities in the deaths of both Regina and Vicki both women had their hands bound behind their backs and both
00:10:41
were raped both had ligature marks on their necks suggesting a rope or binding had been used and then removed both also
00:10:50
had petechial hemorrhaging on their eyes and eyelids which are tiny red pinprick
00:10:54
sized marks left behind after the pressure of strangulation despite these similarities and despite the fact that
00:11:01
their bodies were found less than one mile from each other there were police who dismissed the
00:11:05
connection to Vicki Purdy's murder they felt it was nothing more than a coincidence Vicki was a 25 year old
00:11:13
woman who had been out late clubbing and Regina was a 17 year old on her way to school that was enough for some
00:11:20
investigators to dismiss a connection but it didn't take long for them to change their minds 21 year old Denise
00:11:29
Renee Hughes had lived in Hawaii for five months she was originally from Everett in Washington State just north
00:11:36
of Seattle Denise had gone on vacation to Hawaii and met a young sailor stationed at Pearl Harbor named Charles
00:11:43
they fell in love got married in Seattle and straight after the wedding moved to
00:11:48
Pearl City Oahu close to where Charles was stationed on board a ship in Pearl Harbor Pearl City is only a 15-minute
00:11:56
drive north from Honolulu Airport Denise had studied business Becky never and she
00:12:03
found a job in Hawaii relatively easily she'd been working as a secretary for three months at a telephone company long
00:12:10
distance USA incorporated in the short time she was there she was highly valued she always had a smile on her face no
00:12:17
matter what and she had already earned a raise she quickly made friends who she played sports and went shopping with she
00:12:25
was also part of a close-knit Christian group the niece's mum worried that she was too
00:12:31
young to get married and move away she also worried the Pearl City where the couple lived was too remote Denise
00:12:38
got the bus to and from work every day and her mother encouraged her to walk to the bus stop leaving only just enough
00:12:44
time for its arrival that way Denise wouldn't be waiting around too long On January 29th 1986 Denise and Charles
00:12:55
spend the evening together going out for a nice meal the next morning Denise got
00:13:00
ready for work putting on a blue dress Charles was already at work so she left home and headed for the bus stop as per
00:13:07
her usual routine only that day January 30th she didn't show up for work two days later on February 1st three
00:13:20
teenagers were crabbing along a drainage canal off Moanalua stream they came across something wrapped in blue plastic
00:13:27
sheeting floating near the shore it appeared to have been rolled down the embankment through the mud it was the
00:13:35
body of Denise use wearing the blue dress she had put on to go to work the day she disappeared
00:13:40
a combination of water and the elements meant that her body had begun the stages
00:13:45
of decomposition her hands were bound behind her back and she too had been raped and strangled
00:13:53
although Denise was found slightly upstream from the kie Lagoon there was no doubt that the three women had been
00:13:59
killed by the same person all three women had been found south of their homes in an area close to Honolulu
00:14:06
Airport along the water this time there could be no doubt the Honolulu Police Department admitted that a serial killer
00:14:15
was operating the head of the Honolulu Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division Maj Chester
00:14:24
Hughes announced that he had formed a task force to examine and investigate the three murders Hawaii was facing its
00:14:32
first ever serial killer who the media called the honolulu strangler the police were aware that the public was becoming
00:14:39
anxious but there was a fine line between warning them and setting off a panic alarm there was evidence collected
00:14:47
from the crime scenes and forensic evidence taken from the victims but at the time there wasn't much that could be
00:14:53
done with it DNA profiling was still over a year away so the main tests that could be done was blood type but this
00:15:01
was often of little value as determining the blood type usually just narrowed down a pool of suspects that you already
00:15:07
had it didn't generate new suspects in matching blood type alone gave you no basis for an arrest
00:15:14
in this case they didn't have any suspects there had been a seven-month break after the first murder of Vicky
00:15:24
Purdy but then Regina Sakamoto and Denise Hughes were killed within a very short space of time it was difficult to
00:15:31
determine when the killer would strike next but the police task force did everything
00:15:35
they could to be ready seven weeks went by without anything suspicious happening on March 26th 1986
00:15:47
25 year-old Louise maderos caught a plane from Honolulu to the island of Kauai where she grew up
00:15:53
and where her family still lived the trip was an important one she'd had some misunderstandings with her mother over
00:16:00
the years who had just passed away the ways traveled back to her own Island to be with family for the reading of her
00:16:07
mother's will she was three months pregnant at the time and she left her two young sons with her boyfriend's
00:16:13
family while she made the trip Louise had rebelled as a teenager and too left home at 16 moving to Allah who she got
00:16:22
into some trouble with the law before settling down she had a daughter who had been put into foster care and she was
00:16:27
working hard to get her back Louise had grown estranged to her family over the years but was able to bond with them
00:16:35
that day when Louise was preparing to head home after the reading of the will her sister suggested she wait until the
00:16:43
following day to fly back to Oahu so she wasn't getting the bus home to her apartment at night but Louise insisted
00:16:50
she'd be okay and she wanted to get back home to her kids she boarded the 7:40 p.m. mid Pacific flight back to Honolulu
00:16:58
Airport but she never made it home the belief was that Louise was abducted from the bus stop at Honolulu Airport police
00:17:10
didn't have high hopes of finding her they knew what they were facing three other women had been found raped and
00:17:17
strangled near the airport already and two of those three had disappeared from local bus stops they felt the odds of
00:17:23
finding the Weiser life were remote a week later on April 2nd 1986 road workers found the decomposing body of
00:17:34
Louise Medeiros she was wearing the same white blouse with red flowers that she had been wearing when she was on Kauai
00:17:41
Eve with her family her lower body was unclothed the waist had been raped strangled and her hands were bound
00:17:49
behind back she was lying beneath a freeway overpass which crosses over a stream
00:17:56
feeding into the north end of the kie lagoon there is a link to a map of the lagoon in the show notes on the bottom
00:18:04
far left of the map you have the airport and the reef runway where the second victim regina Sakamoto's body was found
00:18:11
half way up on the left side of the lagoon is where vicki Purdy was filmed at the top end of the lagoon there are
00:18:18
two streams the stream heading Northwest as where Denise Hughes was found and it
00:18:24
now the fourth victim louise Medeiros was found at an overpass covering the stream heading in the same direction
00:18:30
Denise Hughes was found the horseshoe shape of the lagoon continues around towards a separate small island known as
00:18:38
Sand Island in the direction of downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach there's a road build over the lagoon which takes
00:18:46
you to Sand Island it's mainly used for industrial purposes with the islands water treatment plant located there but
00:18:53
it has some recreational space and is well known for its good fishing spots the four women had all been found at
00:19:01
fairly similar distances from each other in the lagoon but no one had been found
00:19:05
in the lower southeast part of the lagoon near Sand Island yet Denis uses mother Linda flew from Washington state
00:19:16
to Hawaii looking for answers shortly after arriving in Hawaii someone stole Linda's wallet which held
00:19:22
her most precious photos of Denise the wallet also held photos of her other daughter Dori who died two years earlier
00:19:29
in a car accident she was only 16 years old so in less than two years Linda had lost both her daughters relatives and
00:19:39
friends of Denise and Linda got together and came up with $7000 as a reward for anyone who brought forth information
00:19:44
that could lead to the conviction of the murderer Linda plastered the posters all around
00:19:50
Oahu the task force intensified after the murder of Louise Medeiros there was now no doubt that Hawaii's first known
00:20:01
serial killer was in their midst as they had zero experience with serial killers
00:20:06
the Honolulu Police Department requested a outside assistance they brought in an
00:20:11
FBI profiler and they also sought the help of Seattle's Green River task force a group which had been formed two years
00:20:18
earlier to investigate the Green River Killer major Luis Souza was assigned head of the task force going forward
00:20:25
they found a no link between the four victims none of them knew each other their only connection was that they were
00:20:32
killed by the same person the term serial killer was so new to the people of Hawaii that the press actually
00:20:39
gave explanations for its meanings in their papers according to will Hoover a journalist with the Honolulu
00:20:46
star-advertiser a source close to the investigation said this is what detectives have feared for
00:20:53
a long time in Hawaii Hawaii lags behind the mainland so we knew the weird stuff
00:20:58
was on the way major Chester Hughes gave a press conference where he confirmed there were
00:21:05
no suspects he said investigators believed that two or more of the victims may have accepted
00:21:11
a ride with the killer at a bus stop and he warned the women of Oahu to be on high alert
00:21:16
but many people on the island had no other form of transportation so they were forced to wait at bus stops in
00:21:22
order to get to work school or the shops the public warning stated don't accept rides with strangers if possible
00:21:32
traveling groups there are safety in numbers where the type of clothes and shoes they give you freedom of movement
00:21:38
don't burden yourself with too many packages if stopped by someone in a car asking directions or questions give your
00:21:47
answers from a safe distance never get too close to the car if your instinct tells you that you're being followed
00:21:53
trust your instinct as part of their operation the taskforce set up an undercover sting using police women who
00:22:03
posed as commuters around ket Lagoon and Honolulu Airport but no suspects were identified from this
00:22:13
on April 29th 1986 just over a month after the body of louise Medeiros was discovered 36 year
00:22:21
old Linda Pesci got into her light blue 1976 Toyota to drive home from work it was a good day for her as she just got
00:22:29
word she had been promoted she was a sales rep at McCoy teller page a telecom company located on the southeastern side
00:22:37
of ket Lagoon between downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach just like Denise Hughes Linda had only worked at that
00:22:45
particular telecom company for a matter of months Linda was from a working-class
00:22:50
background and grew up in Marin County in Northern California in her early 20s after studying psychology at the College
00:22:58
of Marina she hitchhiked across the country alone she was known as streetwise and tough
00:23:04
some would say a fighter she moved to Hawaii to work as a dancer and then moved to Guam to do the same she later
00:23:13
returned to Honolulu where she settled down had a daughter and two married she was happy and carefree a close friend of
00:23:21
Linda's said whatever her past was was hope assed everything changed with her daughter after eight years Linda
00:23:30
separated from her husband amicably and she and her daughter moved in with one of Linda's friends it was 6:30 p.m. on
00:23:38
April 29th when Linda got in her car at work and headed for the h1 freeway to get home only Linda didn't make it home
00:23:47
the next morning her housemate realized she wasn't there and raised the alarm police put an alert out across the radio
00:23:54
that a woman had gone missing in the description of Linda and her car was broadcast
00:24:00
Linda's housemate was alarmed that she hadn't returned home she said she would never go anywhere without her young
00:24:06
daughter but police didn't immediately fear the worst there wasn't the first missing person report that had been
00:24:12
filed since the murders started previous reports had been made of missing women with fears they had fallen prey to the
00:24:19
Honolulu strangler only for them to turn up safe and well the fact Linda was driving her own car
00:24:26
and not taking a bus gave them hope that maybe the worst hadn't happened they remained vigilant and treated the
00:24:32
report seriously but they were initially hopeful that was until later that morning when they found Linda's car
00:24:40
pulled off to the side of the road on their Nimitz Highway leading to the h1 freeway 15 minutes drive from Linda's
00:24:47
work the location of Linda's car filled many of the investigators with a sense of dread it was found right at the
00:24:56
northeastern end of the kie Lagoon they realized Linda's car had most likely broken down as she recently had car
00:25:04
trouble her wallet and keys were missing from the vehicle and there was a bus stop less than half a mile away there's
00:25:10
a very real chance Linda had set off on foot to get the bus home this theory was
00:25:16
further cemented when they set up a roadblock at the site Linda's car was found stopping all motorists to ask if they
00:25:22
had seen Linda or her vehicle it was reported by more than one person that they saw Linda's car shortly after 7:00
00:25:29
p.m. the night she went missing about 30 minutes after she left work witnesses saw her car pulled over with its hazard
00:25:36
lights on in the exact spot police found it police called an immediate press conference and pleaded for the public's
00:25:44
assistance major Chester Hughes said from what we have developed so far we suspect foul play
00:25:52
we have a missing person that we don't feel right about and due to the past cases we're gearing up immediately on
00:25:58
this one he confirmed that it was their belief Linder attempted to walk to a nearby service station or to the nearby
00:26:06
bus stop there were actually two bus stops close by both only half a mile walk in either direction
00:26:13
further warnings also went out to the community criminologist Medlen urged people to be aware of their environment
00:26:20
to look out for friends and neighbors and to call the police immediately if they saw a stalled car she suggested
00:26:27
that if a woman was having car trouble quote put up the hood take the tire iron out of the trunk get back into the car
00:26:35
lock it and roll up the windows if someone approaches to help you should ask them to call the police
00:26:41
the key thing is to not leave the car she continued we have lost our innocence as a community obviously the women's
00:26:50
community is very upset the whole community is very upset it involves everybody's wives
00:26:56
everybody's girlfriends and everybody's daughters four days after Linda went missing may 3rd 1986 a 43 year old
00:27:07
mechanic from Ewa Beach on the southwest coast of the island walked into Honolulu
00:27:12
Police Department and said that a psychic and told him where to find Linda's body this was completely
00:27:19
unexpected and the out of the blue the mechanic had never been spoken to until now he said he had followed the
00:27:26
directions given to him by the psychic and went to sand island after looking around for a while he saw some bones or
00:27:33
a body he then told police he knew of Linda Pesci as she had tried to sell him a pager when police checked Linda's work
00:27:42
notebook they discovered his details inside that appeared Linda had written his name down the day she disappeared
00:27:50
after giving police his story the mechanic took them to Sand Island he showed them all over but stayed away
00:27:57
from one particular spot police moved their search to the spot where the mechanic was avoiding and it was there
00:28:04
that they found the body of Linda Pesci she was facedown covered with dirt and a
00:28:10
concrete block had been placed on top of her she was just off a dirt road in what
00:28:16
they referred to as an unimproved area one they didn't get much foot traffic she'd been raped and strangled police
00:28:26
started to keep a very close eye on the mechanic with five women dead at the hands of the Honolulu strangler and no
00:28:35
indication it was going to stop the entire state of Hawaii was nervous in Oahu self-defense classes were full and
00:28:43
stores were selling out of guns two days after Linda's body was discovered Honolulu police held a
00:28:50
community safety meeting for women officer Christine Gaylord held the first meeting at Waipahu library and others
00:28:57
were set to be hauled around the island Christine opened the meeting by asking what are you really afraid of the
00:29:06
answers the flew back were being killed dying and death the taskforce which by then had over 20 members working around
00:29:16
the clock received hundreds of calls offering all sorts of tips and theories they followed up every lead regardless
00:29:23
of how insignificant it seemed the community were reminded of past murders which had also gone unsolved
00:29:31
none of them were believed to have any connection to the current serial killings but they stirred up emotions
00:29:37
nonetheless the most recent of these other unsolved murders was July 6th 1985 a month after Vicky Purdy the first
00:29:46
known victim of the honolulu strangler was murdered 19 year old dance teacher diane suzuki disappeared from out the
00:29:53
front of the dance studio she worked at this is one of the other unsolved cases that many people in the community
00:29:59
thought was linked to the honolulu strangler but police were confident it was unrelated the person who abducted
00:30:08
dying in Suzuki did not fit the profile or method they looking at for the honolulu strangler they firmly believed
00:30:15
Dianne Suzuki was stalking in the lead up to her disappearance there were so adamant of this that they used evidence
00:30:21
from the still unsolved case to help overhaul Hawaii's harassment laws which resulted in stalking and violations of
00:30:28
restraining orders being made Class C felonies which carried a 5-year maximum jail term on May 6 police held another
00:30:38
press conference where they released further information to the public witnesses who were stopped at the
00:30:44
roadblock where they found Linda's car reported seeing an unknown male person and a van parked nearby the night she
00:30:51
disappeared the van was described as a light-colored possibly a cargo carrying vehicle with
00:30:58
lettering on its rear windows an american-made model of the late 70s or early 80s an artist sketch of the van
00:31:05
was released and the man was described as Caucasian or mixed ancestry the FBI profile of the honolulu
00:31:13
strangler was also released at this press conference the profile was a Caucasian man in his late 30s or early
00:31:21
40s he may live or work in the area between sand island and Waipahu and targeted women near to where he lived or
00:31:29
worked he was an opportunist attacking women in vulnerable situations rather than stalking his victims he was
00:31:37
unlikely to already have a criminal record he would be familiar with the area where the crimes were committed and
00:31:43
again may live or work in the vicinity he may possibly be experiencing marital or relationship difficulties Douglas
00:31:53
Gibb the Honolulu Police Chief at the time went on to say at this press conference that physical evidence had
00:31:59
been recovered and was currently being tested but he refused to confirm what that evidence was the 43 year old
00:32:07
mechanic who approached police out of the blue and led them to Linda Pesci's body after claiming a psychic told him
00:32:14
where to find her we're still being closely watched around the clock the public were told that there were no
00:32:21
suspects but the mechanic fit the killer's profile in more than one instance he was 43 years old Caucasian
00:32:28
he lived at Ewa Beach which was right in the vicinity they suspected the killer lived based on the geography of where
00:32:35
the bodies were found he worked at an air cargo company near the airport on lagoon drive the road that runs along
00:32:42
the edge of ke lagoon he inserted himself in the investigation out of the blue claiming a psychic told him information
00:32:50
he took police to the body of Linda Pesci and had prior contact with her the mechanic also owned a VN that fit the
00:32:58
description of the one seen near Linda's car after police released the description of
00:33:04
the van to the public specifically mentioning and had lettering on its rear window undercover police watched the
00:33:11
mechanic scratch the company logo of flying tigers from the rear of his van he was shaping as a firm suspect and he
00:33:19
was taken in for questioning on May 9th 1986 six days after leading police to the body of Linda Pesci he attended the
00:33:30
police station voluntarily he agreed to be photographed and agreed to take part in a polygraph test which he failed he
00:33:39
was questioned for seven hours between 8:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. during which time he barely moved he sat with his
00:33:45
arms folded and head down police were confident they had the Honolulu strangler but there was no hard evidence
00:33:53
there was an entirely circumstantial case they had physical evidence semen had been sent for forensic testing but
00:34:01
the results didn't amount to anything that could be used to prove it was him testing showed that the semen had few or
00:34:08
no sperm which was possibly the result of a vasectomy as there was no DNA testing at the time all they could do
00:34:15
was test for blood type which they did but it was only useful in eliminating suspects it wasn't useful in this
00:34:22
investigation it was the most common blood type in the world so it didn't mean much that he matched it it just
00:34:30
meant he couldn't be eliminated at the conclusion of the interview Major Luis Souza confronted the mechanic directly
00:34:37
asking him if he murdered Linda Pesci he put his head down and said he didn't do
00:34:44
it Souza felt they had enough on the mechanic to place him under arrest and he instructed his detectives to do so
00:34:51
they're certain they would be able to break him but after the arrest an attorney called the station and asked to
00:34:58
speak to the mechanic she was organized by his girlfriend and she instructed him
00:35:03
to stop talking to the police immediately and he did from that point on he never
00:35:10
said another word because he stopped talking suzer and the detectives were forced to go to the prosecutor with what
00:35:17
they had hoping they would be given approval to charge the mechanic with murder but they won't
00:35:24
the prosecutor advised there was insufficient evidence if it went to trial they feared there was a good
00:35:30
chance the mechanic would be acquitted meaning they could never prosecute him again for those charges the mechanic was
00:35:37
allowed to walk out the front door when he left the police department around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon the mechanic
00:35:45
covered his face and head with his t-shirt local press were waiting for him he said the following as he was escorted
00:35:54
into a waiting car the police have released me that's all I know they've got plenty of good cause they're doing
00:36:02
their job someone asked if he knew Linda Pesci to which she replied I haven't talked to he then stopped himself before
00:36:12
continuing I don't even know what's really going on here I'll comment some other time police continued to follow
00:36:21
the mechanic and keep him under close surveillance or they tried to gather more evidence the mechanic was divorced
00:36:30
with a child but he had a new girlfriend he had moved to Honolulu from Alaska four years earlier in the early eighties
00:36:37
he had no prior criminal record in Alaska or Hawaii the mechanics neighbors described him as a hopeful friendly
00:36:45
gentleman who is kind and outgoing always willing to help people out if they needed anything police looked
00:36:53
further into Linda Pesci and why she had written the mechanic's name down in her
00:36:57
diary they found out she was responsible for pitching her company services to businesses in the Airport area the same
00:37:05
area where Flying Tigers was located the company the mechanic worked for detectives interviewed the mechanics
00:37:14
girlfriend as well as his ex-wife they both described him as a smooth talker who often turned a conversation on to
00:37:21
the topic of sex both women stated they had engaged in sexual activities with the mechanic
00:37:27
where they had their hands tied behind their backs the informants girlfriend also revealed
00:37:33
something new to investigators she explained that they've had some arguments lately she told police that
00:37:41
age of the murders had corresponded with the night they had argued and he had left the house but it still wasn't hard
00:37:48
evidence and the prosecutors felt the same way they couldn't charge him the couple of months later a woman came
00:37:57
forward who said she had seen a man standing with one of the victims on the night she was murdered it hasn't been
00:38:03
released publicly which victim the witness saw the man with she successfully picked the mechanic from a
00:38:09
photo lineup as the man she saw with the victim but she declined to testify she was worried the mechanic had seen her
00:38:17
and that he might come after her next the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii didn't have a single case linked
00:38:26
to the Honolulu strangler again the task force continued the tale the mechanic day and night no matter where
00:38:34
he went after a while the mechanic left Hawaii and moved to the Midwest on the mainland the task force called the local
00:38:42
police department where he moved to and they continued to watch him but he never did anything at first while under
00:38:48
surveillance the mechanic was even followed to Europe twice by the FBI he was also followed from the Midwest to
00:38:56
the east coast and back to the Midwest when he resided there but they never got anything
00:39:01
he was never linked to any crime again and to no charges were ever laid for the murders of Vicki Purdy
00:39:08
Regina Sakamoto Denise Hughes louise Medeiros or linda perry the mechanic died in 2003 due to illness an autopsy
00:39:20
may have provided information regarding his DNA but it's unknown if one was conducted there is no information to say
00:39:27
whether his DNA was collected prior to his death there is no information to say whether the forensic evidence gathered
00:39:34
from 1986 is available for retesting today but in 2016 the Honolulu Police Department told the local Hawaiian TV
00:39:44
station KH o n2 that they were stepping up their efforts in reviewing cold cases
00:39:50
the full statement released by the Honolulu Police Department in 2016 read earlier this year
00:39:57
homicide detectives stepped up their efforts to review unsolved murder cases looking for untested evidence and any
00:40:03
evidence that should be retested using updated DNA technology Honolulu Police Department also created a database with
00:40:11
information that thoroughly documents which items of evidence have been tested and which items should be retested when
00:40:17
new technology becomes available the database will serve as a resource for both current and future investigators we
00:40:25
can't comment on open cases however because there is no statute of limitations for homicide the case will
00:40:32
remain open until a suspect has been identified we will piss you all leads whether it's from someone who has new
00:40:38
information or a new form of DNA testing we are committed to getting for victims and their families no matter
00:40:46
how long it takes [Music]