No charges yet for alleged killer of 5-year-old boy

On Tuesday a tiny, white teddy bear with a handwritten note saying, “God bless you,” sat outside the McCully apartment building where a 5-year-old boy was fatally stabbed late Monday afternoon.

His 29-year-old aunt, who was critically injured after being stabbed multiple times, is still in a hospital intensive care unit, said a distant relative who didn’t want to be identified.

She sustained 14 stab wounds, he said.

Waiser Walter, 26, who neighbors said is a hanai relative of the victims, was arrested at 4:55 p.m. Monday at the 2014 Lime St. second-floor apartment on suspicion of one count of second-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and a contempt warrant. He had not been charged Tuesday night.

“We had a lot of complaints about the guy,” said third-floor neighbor John Sacriz. “We hear him making noise, sometimes screaming.”

Resident Mike Matsushima, 61, said a mother and her two adult daughters have lived for more than five years in the unit where the stabbings occurred, and that Walter arrived from Chuuk earlier this year.

Matsushima said the boy was the older daughter’s son.

“So sad,” said Sacriz. “The kids play on the lanai, and I tickle their feet” when they sit on the floor and let their legs dangle through the bars.

Now the apartment complex is quiet, he said.

“I have a 4-year-old and an infant that is almost 2 months old,” he said. “I held them when I got home because you never know.”

Police found the boy with multiple stab wounds to the chest. He suffered cardiac arrest and was given advanced cardiac life support before being taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died.

EMS said the woman had multiple stab wounds to the back, and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Sacriz, 26, said he was on a ladder at a job site in Kapolei when he got a frantic call from his wife asking him to call police after she heard loud noises and people screaming.

“Minutes after that they were quiet,” he said.

He said his wife looked over the railing and saw the woman staggering along the walkway of the second floor with stab wounds.

Sacriz said his wife “was scared. She locked all the doors and deadbolt.”

He rushed home and saw one of the sisters, the boy’s mother.

“We always say hi,” he said. “She wanted someone to be with her inside the apartment. It was a mess in there. Footprints of blood. Like a puddle (of blood). We asked, ‘Are you OK?’ She was scared to go inside without someone.”

He and another neighbor walked her to the door and stayed outside while she grabbed her bag.

“The mom was just crying,” he said.

A court document shows Walter was arrested March 25 on suspicion of disorderly conduct. He had allegedly been making unreasonable noise and persisted after being warned to stop. A formal complaint in the incident was filed in Honolulu District Court on April 22, and a judge ordered a bench warrant for his arrest when he failed to show up for his court appearance.

On Feb. 18, police issued a criminal citation to Walter for drinking in public on Sand Island Parkway.