Police find explosive materials in home
Police found possible bomb-making material in an Aiea rental cottage destroyed in a fire last month.
Deputy City Prosecutor Vickie Kapp said Wednesday that police found three cans of a possible accelerant in the cottage where the fire started and two 5-gallon buckets filled with fertilizer and metal bolts on a bed.
An Oahu grand jury on Wednesday indicted the home’s resident, Ross Gudgel, on first-degree arson changes.
Witnesses told police they heard a loud explosion on May 31 and saw the cottage on Honomanu Street on fire. One of them helped Gudgel climb out of the cottage through a window. Others tried to put out the fire with garden hoses.
Gudgel, 66, suffered burns from the fire and went to Straub Hospital in critical condition. Police arrested him Saturday after his release from the hospital.
He remains in custody unable to post $250,000 bail.
Deadline to set monk seal habitat extended
An environmental group says the National Marine Fisheries Service is extending its own deadline for making a decision on a habitat to protect Hawaiian monk seals.
The Center for Biological Diversity said Tuesday it’s clear that a habitat in the main Hawaiian Islands is essential for survival of the critically endangered animals.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed designating areas on and around Hawaii’s most developed islands as protected areas for the species. The proposal came in response to a petition filed by environmental groups.
NOAA says it needs six more months to decide. A spokeswoman says the extra time will be used to analyze public comments.
Former Republican Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, who is running for U.S. Senate, has called the proposal insensitive and an example of government overreach.
Visitor pleads guilty in death of girlfriend
A Washington state man pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing his girlfriend in May 2011 at the Fairmont Orchid hotel on the Kona Coast, the Hawaii County prosecutor’s office announced.
Philip Howard Zimmerman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping and criminal property damage before Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra.
Zimmerman, 46, and Susan Brockert, 44, were from Bellevue, Wash., near Seattle. They were on vacation and staying at the Fairmont Orchid when hotel staff heard cries for help from their room on May 23, 2011.
Hotel staff stopped the beating attack on Brockert, but she died of her injuries at North Hawaii Community Hospital.
The prosecutor’s office said Zimmerman agreed to plead guilty in return for prosecutors not seeking an enhanced sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Zimmerman could still be sentenced to consecutive terms, including life with parole, for the convictions.
Maui beach reopens after shark attack
State officials Wednesday reopened a Maui beach where a 16-year-old California girl had apparently been bitten by a small reef shark.
A possible shark attack led to closing the Kahana beach area in front of the Hololani Resort on Tuesday. Fire crews found the Livermore, Calif., girl with what looked like a 3- to 5-inch bite on her left calf.
The girl told officials it happened while sitting in water about 2 to 3 feet deep but that she didn’t see anything.
The beach was reopened Wednesday after no sharks were spotted in the area.
