Kalihi man indicted in November 2015 murder

An Oahu grand jury has returned a murder indictment in connection with the discovery last April of a woman’s skeletal remains on Tantalus.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner identified the remains as those of Helen Prestosa of Kalihi.

Honolulu police opened a missing person case in November 2015 when the 39-year-old Prestosa failed to show up for work as a manager at the Jack in the Box restaurant on North School Street in Kalihi. They later reclassified the case as murder and arrested Jhun Ley Irorita, and then released him without charges, in January last year.

Irorita lists a Rose Street address as his residence, which is walking distance from where Prestosa worked.

Thursday’s indictment charges Irorita, 26, with murder in Prestosa’s death on Nov. 19 or 20, 2015. Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi set Irorita’s bail at $500,000.

Irorita has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 28 last year for violating a protective order. He pleaded guilty in June to an amended charge of harassment and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Volunteers picking up trash on a steep hillside discovered Prestosa’s remains on April 17.

Honolulu police classified the discovery as an unattended death. Police at that time did not know whose remains they were but said foul play was suspected because of the circumstances.

The medical examiner identified the remains as those of Prestosa last October and said she died of an undetermined type of violence inflicted on her. The medical examiner certified April 17 as Prestosa’s date of death.

Prestosa’s family held a funeral for her last November.