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HILO >> Hundreds of people gathered at memorial services for a woman and her two children who were shot to death in their home on Hawaii island earlier this month.
About 250 people attended the celebration of life and Mass at Malia Puka o Kalani Catholic Church on Wednesday for 40-year-old Aracely Hoffman; her 7-year-old daughter, Clara; and 5-year-old son, John, The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Friday.
The woman’s husband and father of her children, John Hoffman, was arrested May 6 and is charged with murder in their deaths. He remains jailed on $2.75 million bail.
Aracely Hoffman, a native of El Salvador, had gone to Malia Puka o Kalani, where there were other Spanish-speaking parishioners.
Friend and fellow parishioner Ramon Manuel Figueroa-Centeno delivered her eulogy. He described her as “always smiling, always laughing, even when she was in pain.”
Another friend, Vicki Nelson, said Hoffman was “very strong, very brave, a wonderful person.”
Timothy Tama- shiro, a friend of John Hoffman Jr., said, “Junior loved learning about God and Jesus.”
Burial was in Mauna Kea Memorial Park.
Woman’s death deemed suicide
A Kailua-Kona woman died March 31 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Hawaii County police said Friday.
Marsha Mansker, 62, was found unresponsive at her Kailua-Kona home in the Kona Highlands subdivision.
Police arrested her husband at the scene on suspicion of second-degree murder, and he was released the following day pending further investigation.
Police released the autopsy results Friday revealing the manner of death as a suicide.
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