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COURTESY PHOTO
Mary Beth San Juan, a real estate broker and actress, was found dead wrapped in a rug in Makiki in July 2013.
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STAR-ADVERTISER / 2013
Vernon Baker (pictured middle) :
He faces a mandatory life sentence with a possible release on parole status
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The man accused of killing 56-year-old Honolulu real estate broker and aspiring actress Mary Beth San Juan pleaded guilty Tuesday in state court.
Vernon Baker, 44, pleaded guilty to murder. He also pleaded guilty to charges that he possessed drugs and drug paraphernalia when police arrested him in July 2013, four days after San Juan’s body was found wrapped in a rug in the driveway of her Punahou Street home. She had been bound, gagged and stabbed multiple times.
Baker faces a mandatory life prison term with the possibility of release on parole at sentencing in April.
Honolulu police said they believe robbery was a motive in the killing and were able to identify Baker as a suspect from eye witnesses, ATM video and some of San Juan’s belongings that were either found discarded near the Waikiki hostel where Baker stayed or that Baker had given to others.
Police said First Hawaiian Bank video shows Baker withdrawing money using San Juan’s ATM card from the bank’s Manoa Marketplace branch one day before San Juan’s body was discovered. They also said a witness saw Baker in San Juan’s driveway next to the open trunk lid of San Juan’s silver 2013 Mercedes C250 sedan just hours before her body was discovered. Police found the car the next day at Kapiolani Park.
They said they found San Juan’s wallet in a trash bin another two days later outside Baker’s hostel on Lemon Road.
Police said a woman told them she received San Juan’s laptop computer from a homeless man. The man told police he got the computer from Baker, who asked him to sell it.
It was San Juan’s ex-husband who discovered San Juan’s body in the driveway. He told police he and San Juan were having dinner 10 days earlier when his ex-wife got a call from Baker asking her for a ride home. He said he and San Juan picked up Baker and dropped him off.
Police said San Juan and Baker were acquaintances. A friend said he believes San Juan met Baker through their mutual religious interests.
San Juan was the principal broker and founder of Happy Homes Hawaii LLC. As an actress she had a role in an episode of “Hawaii Five-0.”
