Remains ID’d as those of suspect’s mother

Honolulu police have identified human remains found in a Waikiki apartment to be those of the mother of a 26-year-old man charged with her murder.

Yu Wei Gong made his initial court appearance at District Court in Honolulu on Monday after he was charged Sunday with second-degree murder. Police served him with an arrest warrant upon his release from The Queen’s Medical Center.

Judge James Kawashima confirmed Gong’s bail at $2 million.

Police matched fingerprints from the human remains to those of Gong’s mother, Liu Yun Gong. Police confirmed her fingerprints through her Hawaii driver’s license records.

A deputy medical examiner determined Gong died of blunt force injuries to her head. The manner of death was classified as a homicide, according to a court document.

On the morning of April 11, Yu Wei Gong called 911 and told a dispatcher he was suicidal and that he had killed his mother in September. He said “it was an accident and he didn’t mean to do it,” the affidavit said.

The mother and son lived in an apartment at 414 Launiu St., where they got into an argument after he told her he wanted to work instead of go to school.

At some point Gong hit his mother, according to the affidavit. It’s unclear exactly when the argument took place or when Gong struck her.

Gong had attended Kapiolani Community College from fall 2011 to spring 2016. He was also registered at Honolulu Community College in 2014.

After he called 911 on April 11, police arrived shortly before 6:40 a.m. at the Waikiki apartment, where they met Gong, who was bleeding from his left wrist, according to the court document. When asked where his mother was, Gong told the officer she was in the freezer in the kitchen. Police opened the freezer and found several plastic trash bags.

The following morning, police executed a search warrant, and officers discovered dismembered body parts inside the trash bags.

Julie Kim, owner of Spa Royal Hawaiian in Waikiki, said by telephone that Gong’s mother started working on call as a licensed massage therapist at her establishment in February 2016.

The last time Kim saw and spoke to Liu Yun Gong was eight months ago.

Kim recalled Gong saying “see you tomorrow” after they finished work on the night of Aug. 20. When Gong didn’t show up at work the following day, Kim repeatedly called her cellphone, but Gong didn’t answer.

“Usually she responds very quick,” Kim said.

Kim said that on Aug. 22 she received a call from Gong’s son, who told her his mother went to a neighbor island and that she left her phone at home. He told her his mother was expected to be there for a couple of months.

Gong previously had her own massage therapy business, Liu Yun China Massage, at Century Center.

She and her son arrived in Honolulu several years ago, after she married Clyde Mato, a longtime member of the Waipahu United Church of Christ. The couple met online.

Yu Wei Gong was 19 when he and his mother arrived in Hawaii from China. He, his mother and Mato eventually moved to Waikiki.

The Rev. Norma DeSaegher, a retired pastor at the Waipahu church, called Liu Yun Gong a vibrant, caring and hardworking woman.

“It’s just a real travesty,” she said, adding the incident is in stark contrast to what they knew of Yu Wei Gong.

Church members who sat in the courtroom gallery Monday described him as an obedient son. He learned English through a tutor he met at church and developed a strong bond with Mato, who was in the process of adopting him before he died of an aneurysm in September 2014.

“He has no family,” DeSaegher said. “We’re here to give him spiritual support.”