Death investigated as murder

Big Island police have opened a murder investigation into the death of a Kona woman.

Police said the woman, identified as Joy Macres, died at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu Monday afternoon.

The case was originally classified as abuse of a family/household member.

Macres, 28, was flown to Queen’s from the Kona Community Hospital on Sunday with a head injury.

Woman allegedly drives into man

A 35-year-old Kapaa, Kauai, woman was arrested after she allegedly struck her boyfriend with her station wagon.

Police said the woman was driving a 1991 green Honda station wagon when she struck her boyfriend, 41, as he was walking along Apopo Road at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The man sustained minor injuries to his lower legs, arms and back. He was taken by ambulance to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

About 20 minutes later, police arrested the woman at her home on suspicion of attempted murder. She was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Suspect charged in burglary

Police have charged Daniel Ngatuvai with first-degree burglary, resisting arrest and assault of a police officer.

His bail was set at $75,000 Wednesday night.

Ngatuvai, 30, was earlier described as a person of interest in at least three burglaries between Kaaawa and Laie.

Plainclothes officers identified him through fingerprints, witnesses and behavioral patterns, said Sgt. Kimo Smith of the Windward district.

Police said Ngatuvai, who has no local address, was known to frequent friends’ homes; plainclothes officers saturated the area when he popped up.

He struggled with officers and punched an officer in the face after they found him at 7 a.m. Tuesday at Kukuna Road and Kamehameha Highway, Smith said. Both the officer and Ngatuvai were treated at Kahuku Hospital.

Police arrested him in connection with the burglary of a 46-year-old man’s home, where several items were taken on Oct. 18. The other cases are pending.

Victim in truck accident identified

Big Island police identified the 39-year-old man who died after being hit by an 18-wheel semi-trailer truck early Monday morning as Zachary L. Williams of Honokaa.

Williams was hit on the Hawaii Belt Road about a half-mile west of the 38-mile marker near Honokaa between Mailbox Road and Kalopa Road.

Police said a 2009 Peterbilt tractor-trailer driven by a 54-year-old Hilo man was traveling west on Highway 19 when Williams stepped into the roadway at 1:49 a.m. and was hit.

Williams was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:10 a.m.

Police said the accident happened in a rural area with no fixed lighting. There was no fog or rain at the time of the accident.

Police opened a negligent homicide investigation and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

2 lost hikers are rescued from trail

Hawaii County firefighters rescued two hikers who wandered off the trail to the Puu Oo cinder cone and got lost Wednesday afternoon.

The Fire Department helicopter found the men, ages 28 and 36, but wasn’t able to fly them out because of the weather. A rescue crew hiked in on the main trail and cut a path through the fern and ohia forest to reach the hikers Wednesday night.

Man charged over knife incident

A Honokaa man who allegedly pulled a knife on a security guard at Kealakehe High School in Kona was being held in lieu of $32,000 bail yesterday pending his initial court appearance.

Prosecutors charged Justin Matias, 21, Wednesday with trespass, terroristic threatening and drug offenses in connection with Tuesday’s incident, which triggered a lockdown of the high school campus.

After his arrest, Matias was taken to Kona Community Hospital, complaining of back pain and a minor laceration on his ear from the struggle with the guard.