Eiichi Jumawan says his family is getting worried about the investigation into his nephew’s hit-and-run death on the H-1 freeway almost two months ago.

"It’s frustrating," Jumawan said by phone on Wednesday from West Virginia, where he was managing a boxing team from Hawaii competing in the Junior Olympic Prep and National Championships. "It’s like being starving, you’re so hungry, but you can’t get any food. It’s terrible. It’s kind of an ache."

He said the lack of information weighs on family members. There’s "a really dark cloud around this whole situation."

It causes family members to occasionally break down into tears. They also fear that authorities might eventually drop the case because of a lack of evidence.

"We have this fear that nothing is going to be done," he said.

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said a police investigation into the incident that killed Keith Jantoc is nearing completion.

"Depending on the complexity and circumstances of a case, it is not unusual for investigations to take several months or longer," she said in an email.

Police arrested a 40-year-old Kalihi woman after she turned herself in a day after Jantoc’s death. The woman was booked for investigation of second-degree murder and released pending investigation two days later. She could not be reached for comment.

No one else has been arrested, Yu said.

A source familiar with the investigation said the woman admitted to being the driver in the crash.

Police said Jantoc, 25, of Mililani, was driving a motorcycle east on H-1 near the Kunia onramp when an SUV struck him at about 10 p.m. April 15.

Jantoc was thrown from his motorcycle and died at a hospital, police said. The driver of the SUV fled the scene.

Initially, traffic investigators responded to the fatal crash, but witnesses and evidence on the roadway led police to suspect the collision was intentional. The case was turned over to homicide detectives, and police opened a second-degree murder investigation.

The next morning, police found an SUV — believed to have been in the crash — at a Public Storage parking lot in Pearl City.

Police said the vehicle had motorcycle parts stuck in its front grille and towed it for evidence. Police said witnesses also reported seeing a woman driving an SUV that struck Jantoc.

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Dave Koga said police have turned over all the information about the case except for a closing report, and that the office is reviewing the case.

Yu, HPD spokeswoman, said the prosecutor’s office will determine what, if any, charges to file.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Jantoc died of blunt force injuries to the head, neck and torso. The manner of his death was determined to be an accident.

Jumawan, Jantoc’s uncle and owner of PearlSide Boxing & Fitness, said that only his sister Sharon, Jantoc’s mother, has the authority to obtain information about her son’s case and that she has tried to get information, but that officials told her to be patient as they can’t release any information that could harm the investigation.

Jumawan said he was concerned, however, about other court cases that have taken months or years to be brought to court.

"Is that how long before we find anything out about Keith?" Jumawan said. "We have this fear."

Defense attorney David Hayakawa, who has handled many negligent homicide and traffic cases, said two months is a short time for a fatal traffic investigation to be completed, although traffic cases can be expedited. Some reasons cases are expedited include the defendant having a history of drunken driving or being a flight risk.

He said fatal traffic investigations typically take six months to a year to complete.

He added that a murder case stemming from a traffic death is rare and that it would be difficult for authorities to prove without video footage, an eyewitness, or a confession.

Witnesses on a freeway are problematic because they are moving and have only seconds to observe a scene, he said.

"Your angles, time of day, it’s very limited," he said.

Hayakawa, who did not have details about the Jantoc case, said that to win a conviction for murder, prosecutors must show that the driver intended to cause the death of another person or was aware that it was practically certain a person would die, which is hard to prove even if the driver was acting recklessly.

Hayakawa also said there is a "huge difference between being responsible for causing an injury versus leaving the scene of an accident which involves serious injury."

He’s had clients who have fled accidents but were not responsible for causing them. In one case, a victim’s family was upset that his client had killed a woman who was on the freeway, but his client was charged only with fleeing the scene and not charged with negligent homicide because he couldn’t have avoided the collision.

Hayakawa added that police are often hesitant to release facts, even to victims’ families, until they are finished investigating.

"I think the police have just learned over the years to be very guarded and to assume that any comments prior to the official end of the investigation can somehow be twisted and used against them," he said. "Therefore, they have developed a set of procedures that says, ‘Let’s finish the investigation, turn it over to the prosecutors and let them handle it.’"

Lt. Carlene Lau, of HPD’s Vehicular Homicide Section, which is not investigating the Jantoc case, said unintentional traffic fatalities typically take months to investigate because the investigations are more technical than other criminal investigations. Several factors that lengthen the investigation include compiling forensic details from the scene and working with witnesses, doctors and outside agencies, such as the getting an autopsy report from the Medical Examiner’s Office.

She said that because suspects in traffic investigations are usually ordinary people with jobs, they are often released until the investigation is complete.

Jumawan said the family hopes someone is held accountable for the death of his nephew, who was a good-natured mechanic at Volvo in Kakaako and had a large smile.

"Whether it was accidental or intentional, either way, somebody’s at fault because whoever hit Keith ran away from the scene," Jumawan said. "That’s against the law right there."

To help Jantoc’s family with funeral costs, donations can be dropped off at any Bank of Hawaii location or mailed to the Keith Jantoc Memorial Fund; c/o Robyn Jumawan; 92-1005 Lalahi St. No. 203; Kapolei, HI 96707.