Police say stabbing suspect was near crime scene looking for cell phone

A Moilili woman arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree attempted murder in the stabbing of another woman in a Kapahulu area parking lot was seen nearby in the aftermath of the attack and fled after finding her cell phone, according to a police affidavit.

Yoko Kato, 44, was charged with second-degree attempted murder Saturday after being arrested at her Young street apartment a day earlier.

Police believe she attacked and stabbed Rio Takaku, 27, Oct. 25 at 9:30 p.m. Her bail was set at $150,000.

According to a police affidavit filed in District Court Monday, Takaku said she went to a Kauanoa Street parking lot at 9:30 p.m. to meet a person she had met via text on her Japanese cell phone. Takaku told police she didn’t know who she was supposed to go drinking with.

When Takaku arrived at the parking lot she said her assailant stabbed her in her lower right abdomen area, right forearm and her lower back.

Takaku said she screamed for help and sought refuge in a coffee shop on Campbell Avenue.

When police arrived Takaku told officers that her assailant might be Kato, who used to date her former boyfriend, David Miller, according to the police affidavit.

Takaku said she was unable to see the suspect’s face because she was concentrating on the knife, which she described as 10 to 12 inches.

Takaku said she had broken up with Miller in October and Kato did not know they had been dating and living together.

Kato was identified as being in the Campbell Avenue and Kauanoa street area on Oct. 25 because her cell phone was found there. 

Shortly after the attack Kato also had approached a patrol officer in the area telling him that she had lost her phone, according to police. Kato then identified a phone found near the crime scene, but fled before she could be further questioned, the police statement said.

Miller told police that he met Takaku at his workplace in April. Four months later Takaku moved in to live with him. The couple broke up Oct. 18 – a week before the attack.

According to the police affidavit, Miller said he started dating Kato in Sept. 26, 2012. In April, the couple decided to live together at a Young street apartment until the two broke up in May.

In October, Miller said Kato wanted  to resume  their relationship and started leaving presents for him at his workplace.