Man charged with murder after autopsy of decomposed body
Authorities charged a 34-year-old man today with the shooting death of a man whose decomposed body was found over the weekend in Puna.
Eric Fontes Jr., who has no permanent address, is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree theft, terroristic threatening and a firearms violation. He is also charged with two unrelated drug offenses
Fontes was being held on $725,000 bail, pending a court appearance Friday
Authorities used dental records to identify the victim as 59-year-old Barton Allen Bumatay, of Keaau.
Bumatay had been missing since New Year’s Eve.
An autopsy determined that he died from gunshot wounds.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Detectives investigating the case discovered Bumatay’s body Saturday in the area of Beach Road off Makuu Drive in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision.
At the time, police said the body was too decomposed to determine the identity or even the gender of the victim.
Police said Bumatay’s stolen truck was recovered Wednesday from Mountain View.
Officers arrested Fontes in Hilo on Tuesday.
2 responses to “Man charged with murder after autopsy of decomposed body”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
scary puna
allie, you know nothing about puna so why don’t you just keep your nose in what goes on at UH.