The family of a 65-year-old Aliamanu man, who was arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing his 65-year-old wife in an apparent murder-suicide attempt early Monday morning, says he may have overdosed on prescription drugs.
Sister-in-law Lilia Fajotina identified the woman as Melita Fortin-Fajotina, a nursing assistant at the Queen’s Medical Center and a cancer survivor.
Emergency Medical Services paramedics arrived at the home at about 5:45 a.m. and transported the man, in critical condition with apparent stab wounds, to the hospital.
EMS said the woman died at 6:05 a.m. at the house at 1131 Wanaka St.
Her husband, Isagani Fajotina, underwent surgery Monday for self-inflicted stab wounds and is going to be OK, Lilia Fajotina said. He is a janitor at Queen’s, she said.
Police said he was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and is technically in police custody, although he remains hospitalized and his name does not appear on the booking log.
Lilia Fajotina said Isagani Fajotina told her at Thanksgiving that he was on antidepressant medication prescribed by his doctor.
“I suspect that it must be the medication,” she said, adding that he had not eaten for a week and was not sleeping and was taking sleeping pills. “He may have overdosed on the medications.”
Fajotina was a 15-year Navy veteran who had served in Vietnam.
“He was a good man,” she said.
Neighbor Myrna Von Oelhoffen said Fajotina’s brother had explained years ago that “he’s had mental problems from the war.”
Von Oelhoffen said her family and the Fajotinas moved into the neighborhood about 20 years ago.
She did not know the man to be violent, but said he was “violent in himself,” talking to himself and drinking in his garage sometimes through the night.
Lilia Fajotina said the family is in shock, especially the couple’s only child, who lives upstairs with her two daughters, ages 5 and 6. She and other relatives went to the house after hearing the news Monday morning but have not been able to talk to her and she would not accept their calls, she said.
The couple had been very close to their two granddaughters, Lilia Fajotina said.
The granddaughters asked, “When is Mama (referring to their grandmother) coming back?” she said.
Von Oelhoffen got up at 5:15 a.m. Monday and heard screaming at about 5:30 a.m. She thought it was coming from the upstairs tenant unit and wondered where the homeowners were.
The couple owned the house and lived downstairs. Tenants rented another upstairs unit.
Von Oelhoffen wondered why the couple had been upstairs, and saw paramedics carry the husband and wife down.
Von Oelhoffen said Fortin-Fajotina had stage 4 cancer at one point but had been in remission.
