Grand jury indicts man in Big Isle murder

A Hawaii island man has been charged with murder in the death of a missing Kona musician whose body was discovered in South Kohala.

On Monday a Kona grand jury indicted Martin F. Booth, 55, of Kawaihae on one count of second-degree murder. At 9:40 a.m. Thursday, police arrested him at the Kona police station.

Detectives found the human remains March 10 on vacant land between Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Puako Beach Drive. The remains were identified through dental records as those of Robert Keawe Lopaka Ryder, 37, of Kailua-Kona, who had been reported missing. His family reported Jan. 17 that they had not heard from him since Thanksgiving.

During an autopsy March 12, the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that the manner of death was homicide.

Detectives from the Area II Criminal Investigations Section reclassified the case as a murder and developed evidence linking Booth to the crime, police said.

Booth has been incarcerated at Hawaii Community Correctional Center since February pending trial on an assortment of charges, including methamphetamine trafficking and firearm offenses.

Suspect in police officer’s assault released

A 24-year-old Kalihi man arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer on Wednesday was released pending further investigation. The officer had been investigating a complaint.

The incident occurred at 4:10 p.m. at a Dillingham Plaza shopping center. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault on a police officer, a felony which carries a minimum sentence of five years in jail.