Dad says son confessed to murder in 2015 case

The state says accused killer Jhun Ley Irorita admitted to his father that he killed their neighbor Helen Prestosa.

Irorita, 26, is scheduled to stand trial in state court for Prestosa’s murder in May. A deputy public defender entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf on Monday. Irorita remains in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center unable to post $500,000 bail in the 2015 murder.

An Oahu grand jury returned a murder indictment against Irorita on March 14, when Deputy Prosecutor Jamie Nomura told Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai that Irorita’s father said his son admitted that he killed Prestosa. Irorita lived in a unit one floor above Prestosa in a multi-unit dwelling on Rose Street in Kalihi.

Nomura said that at 3 a.m. the day after Prestosa was last seen alive, the father said Irorita woke him and admitted to killing Prestosa. Nomura said Irorita then asked his father to help him carry a heavy trash bag into his truck.

Prestosa was last seen alive Nov. 19, 2015, after leaving her job as a manager at the Jack in the Box restaurant on School Street. She was reported missing the next day when she didn’t show up for work. The restaurant is walking distance from Rose Street.

Nomura said a check of Prestosa’s residence revealed that several items were missing and that the floor appeared to have been recently cleaned.

Honolulu police, using the chemical luminol, found the presence of blood on the bedroom floor and walls. They later determined that the blood on the walls was Prestosa’s. They arrested Irorita but later released him without charges in January 2016.

Last April, volunteers picking up trash in some brush near the 3000 block of Tantalus Drive found skeletal remains that were later identified as Prestosa’s. Nomura said the remains were wrapped in a sheet along with items that were missing from the residence. Those items included a pillow, pillowcase, blanket, television remote, shoe, iron and cellphone cover.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner says Prestosa suffered fractures to her neck, jaw and chest at or about the time she died.

The state Office of the Public Defender is representing Irorita. Public Defender Jack Tonaki declined comment.