A man accused of killing three people in a rural Hawaii community has been charged with multiple criminal offenses, including murder, authorities said.
Jacob Daniel Baker, 36, of Pāhoa, Hawaii, faces one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths, the Hawaiʻi Police Department said in a news release on May 30. He has also been charged with multiple counts of theft, burglary, criminal property damage, unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, and unauthorized control of propelled vehicle, according to police.
“The second-degree murder charges pertain to the three homicide victims,” police said in the news release. “Murder in the first-degree pertains to intentionally or knowingly killing two or more people.”
Baker is being held without bond on the murder charges and will not be eligible for release even if he makes bail for the property crimes, according to police. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on June 1.
The charges against Baker come after a manhunt on the Island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island, where the three victims were found in the remote community of Puna. Baker was arrested on May 28 after being spotted by a witness and seen on surveillance footage in the Kalapana area, a coastal town in the Puna district, police previously said.
Residents of the community, which is “known for its free-spirited vibe,” according to the Hawai’i Tourism Authority, were shocked by the killings. Some residents hunkered down in their homes as police searched for Baker, and community events were canceled or postponed due to public safety concerns, reported the Honolulu Civil Beat.
Manhunt for suspect launched after 3 ‘suspicious deaths’ discovered in Hawaii community
On May 26, the Hawaiʻi Police Department said it was investigating “two separate suspicious deaths of elderly males that occurred in Puna in the past two days.” The next day, police announced that they were investigating a third “suspicious death” in the community.
Local police launched an island-wide search on May 27 for Baker, who they said was the lone suspect in the three deaths. Federal and state authorities later joined in the investigation.
At the time, police said Baker was considered “armed and extremely dangerous” and urged the public not to approach him. Police also increased patrol presence in the area during the search, according to Hawaiʻi Police Chief Reed Mahuna.
During a news conference on May 27, Capt. Jeremy Scott Lewis said officers responded to the first incident at around 8 p.m. local time on May 25. After arriving at a residence in the area, Puna patrol officers located a 69-year-old man “partially submerged inside a cement pond,” according to Lewis.
“At the initial stages of the investigation, detectives could not immediately determine whether foul play was involved, as there were no indications that the death may have been related or possibly to a medical incident,” Lewis said at the news conference.
An autopsy later determined that the death was a homicide, according to Lewis. Police identified the first victim as Robert Shine, and his cause of death was strangulation, according to a news release.
The second death was discovered at about 12:40 p.m. local time on May 26, when officers found a 79-year-old man with blunt force trauma at another residence, Lewis said. Police have not publicly identified the second victim pending notification of family, but neighbors and friends identified him as Chitta Morse, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat and Hawaii News Now.
The third victim was also found on May 26 at about 10 p.m. local time, when officers responded to a residence for a welfare check and discovered a 69-year-old man dead with apparent injuries, Lewis said. He was identified as John Carse, and his cause of death was “sharp force trauma,” police said an autopsy indicated.
The first and second deaths occurred in “close proximity,” about 400 to 500 feet, according to Lewis. The third death occurred about 19 miles away from the first two victims.
“These are a tragic series of events, and our thoughts are with those who are grieving at this time,” Mahuna said at the news conference.
Suspect arrested after police found him hiding in a small cave
In a news release, police said they arrested Baker at about 2:38 p.m. local time on May 28 after receiving a report that a man “resembling Baker was observed on video surveillance hiding within a vacant lot in the Kaimu area of Kalapana.” Witnesses told police that they saw the man “repeatedly ducking down as passing traffic approached,” according to the news release.
The surveillance footage also caught Baker fleeing from the initial property onto an adjacent property, police said. Officers responded to the area and found Baker hiding in a small cave on the neighboring property.
Authorities previously said they could not reveal why they believe the killings are linked, but said they were “confident” the suspect is connected to all three and that a single suspect was involved. A motive was not yet known, police said.
The victims had no known connection between them, other than that the first two lived in proximity, police said. Baker was previously known to police, Mahuna said, without providing more details.
The Honolulu Civil Beat reported that a neighbor who was living on a Pāhoa farm with Baker had reported feeling nervous about his aggressive behavior and applied for a temporary restraining order. Another woman also applied for a temporary restraining order against Baker that same day, according to the news outlet.
The temporary restraining orders were filed about three days before the first victim’s body was discovered by police and were both denied by a judge, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
