An Oahu grand jury on Wednesday indicted a 26-year-old Waikiki man for allegedly killing his mother and keeping her dismembered body in the kitchen freezer of their apartment.
Yu Wei Gong’s arraignment is scheduled for Monday at Circuit Court on a second-degree murder charge alleging he killed his mother Liu Yun Gong. He remains in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $2 million bail.
On the morning of April 11, Gong called 911 and told a dispatcher that he had killed his mother in September, police said. He said “it was an accident and he didn’t mean to do it,” according to a police affidavit.
Police said the mother and son got into an argument after Gong told his mother he wanted to work instead of go to school, according to the affidavit. It’s not immediately clear when the argument took place or when Gong allegedly caused the fatal blunt-force injuries to her head.
After his phone call to police last week, officers arrived at his apartment at 414 Launiu St. and discovered several plastic trash bags in the kitchen freezer. Police executed a search warrant on the morning of April 12, when they recovered seven bags of body parts.
Police matched fingerprints to those of Gong’s mother through her Hawaii driver’s license records. A deputy medical examiner determined she died of her head injuries, and the manner of death was classified as a homicide.
Liu Yun Gong was a licensed massage therapist and worked at the Spa Royal Hawaiian in Waikiki.
KAUAI
Environmentalists continue push for pesticide regulations
Hawaii environmentalists continue to push for state regulations on pesticide use despite failed legislation, and some are disappointed that Kauai lawmakers did not support measures to require that users of restricted pesticides be identified.
Members of the environment-focused nonprofit Hawaii Seed recently met with Gov. David Ige to ask him to consider a ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos, The Garden Island reported Monday.
The House Finance Committee in March chose not to hear the only bill still alive this session related to the use of pesticides.
The governor can still take a stance on the issue, Hawaii Seed member Jeri Di Pietro said.
“We met with the governor and asked him to consider a ban on chlorpyrifos himself,” he said. “There’s no bills left, but he could do that.”
The governor’s office has not released a statement on the issue.
Other environmentalists were disappointed to see Kauai legislators did not support bills to require disclosure of restricted-use pesticide users in Hawaii.
The proposed bills were not needed, said Rep. Dee Morikawa (D, Lehua-Waimea-Niihau).
“Disclosure is already law through the Good Neighbor program,” Morikawa said. “We haven’t even given the (Department of Agriculture) a chance to accomplish what they’re mandated to do, but people aren’t satisfied. They want action now, today, but we have to be reasonable. The department doesn’t even have the staff to do what they need to accomplish.”
State Sen. Ron Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau) has said he will still continue to push for $750,000 to be added to the Department of Agriculture’s budget for surface water and air quality testing.
