Honolulu police seek help with cold cases

For 80-year-old Makakilo resident Terry Scheidt, he hopes he will see the day when authorities arrest and convict the individual responsible for the 2002 shooting death of his 38-year-old son.

“He did not deserve to die the way he did,” Scheidt said of Michael R. Scheidt at a news conference held Thursday at the Honolulu Police Department’s main headquarters.

The Honolulu Police Department is putting a spotlight on dozens of cold cases including Scheidt’s slaying under a new cold-case program called A‘ole Poina, which means “never forgotten.”

The Police Department launched the program in 2017 with the assistance of a $45,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Funds were used to provide training to homicide and cold-case detectives where they learned the latest techniques in solving cases such as familial DNA testing, said Detective James Slayter of the A‘ole Poina program.

As part of the program, detectives will review every cold case dating back to the 1960s. There are two detectives assigned to the program. Slayter said they hope to increase personnel in the future.

In extension of the program, police launched the new A‘ole Poina website Thursday, which makes it easy for the public to provide tips to cold-case detectives.

Slayter said, “We know that over time relationships change. And we also know inherently there are good people out there that want to do the right thing.”

Detectives hope by posting information on the cold cases on the new website and creating an easy avenue to contact detectives, the public could provide valuable assistance to help solve cases. Those who wish to remain anonymous may contact CrimeStoppers Honolulu.

Slayter said they plan to update the website weekly with two new cold cases. Detectives also will seek assistance from local media to highlight cold cases monthly. “It’s important to get the information out there.”

“We know that sometimes with these cases we’re just missing that one piece of the puzzle, and you never know who’s holding that piece,” he added.

One of the two cold cases posted on the A‘ole Poina website is the killing of Michael R. Scheidt.

At about 3:25 a.m. Dec. 20, 2002, Scheidt was at the Kahe Point Beach parking lot with some friends when a suspect shot him from a distance. Paramedics treated and transported him to St. Francis Medical Center-West where he died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.

During the news conference Scheidt’s father said, “Unfortunately, between (2002) and now, 16 years, his case has never been solved. I’m not happy about that. I think that’s failure. So hopefully this new route to solving the case may be successful.”

The city prosecutor’s office in 2003 identified Patrick W. Deguair as a suspect in the deadly shooting.

Former Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, however, informed Scheidt’s father in a 2009 letter that there were no credible witnesses willing to testify to the identity of the individual who caused his son’s death.

During Thursday’s news conference, Slayter said there were “several witnesses at the scene that we feel could be of great assistance with this investigation.”

The other cold case posted on A‘ole Poina is a suspicious missing-person case involving David Porter of Kaneohe, who was in his 20s when his family reported him missing in November 1976.

Porter, an avid bodyboarder who spent time at Makapuu and Sandy Beach, was last seen at his mother’s Kaneohe home in the late afternoon hours of Nov. 3.

At about 8 a.m. the next day, his family recalled seeing Porter’s white 1965 Volkswagen Beetle, bearing Hawaii license plate 9C-7844, parked at the home. The vehicle was gone later that morning.

Slayter said Porter’s vehicle was found Nov. 26 on Kaumoku Street at Mariners Ridge with the doors locked. Area residents said the vehicle had been left there sometime between Nov. 7 and 11.

Porter’s brother, Lee, 68, choked up at the news conference as he described how he, David and a third brother, Scott, were inseparable when they were children.

“After 42 years it’s still very hard, and I’m just hoping that someone with a conscience comes forward and gives us some information on where he is,” Lee Porter said.

To access the A‘ole Poina website, visit honolulupd.org/cold_case/index.php.