A 27-year-old Kalihi man was charged this morning with the stabbing death of his adoptive mother at their Eluwene Street home Wednesday morning.

Charlie D. Hernane is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail after being charged with second-degree murder. He will likely make his first appearance in District Court Monday morning.

A niece checking on her aunt found the body of Teresita Hernane, 56. There was a cut on her head and Hernane was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

Police arrested Charlie Hernane nearby at Kalakaua Gym about 11:40 a.m.

Family members said the victim was separated from her husband and adopted the suspect, a relative of her husband, in the Philippines. The two came to Hawaii in 1994 where Charlie Hernane attended Farrington High School but eventually dropped out. He returned to the Philippines for a time to undergo drug rehabilitation, family members said. After he came back to Honolulu, he lived in a room with his mother, who was frail with kidney problems, family members said.