Shocked over the stabbing death of Meriam Carcamo, her only son, Mark Rizan, recalled how she enjoyed hiking and how she was always there for him and loved ones.
“She was a caring mom. She was a supportive mom,” Rizan, 16, said of his mother Thursday morning as he sat next to his cousins at his father’s apartment in Kalihi.
Carcamo’s husband, Marcelo Carcamo-Lopez, also known as Marcelo Carcamo, was charged Thursday afternoon with second-degree murder in her death.
Carcamo-Lopez’s bail was set at $1 million. He is scheduled to make his initial court appearance today in Honolulu District Court.
Grief-stricken over Carcamo’s death, her family members gathered at Rizan’s father’s apartment to comfort him.
The fatal stabbing occurred Tuesday night at the couple’s sixth-floor apartment at Pacificana Apartments on Young Street where Carcamo-Lopez lived with Carcamo and her son from a previous relationship. Sometime before 10:50 p.m., police said, Carcamo-Lopez got into a domestic dispute with his wife. The argument escalated when he allegedly stabbed her multiple times with a knife and fled.
Rizan, who was at the apartment at the time of the stabbing and found his mother with stab wounds to the upper part of her body, declined to discuss what happened.
Emergency Medical Services responded and transported Carcamo in critical condition to a hospital where she died.
Police arrested Carcamo-
Lopez as he returned
to the building at about 11:15 p.m.
Carcamo’s niece Kaycel Rizan Go said family members in the Philippines are shocked over the stabbing. “They thought the guy was really nice,” Go said.
Carcamo-Lopez and his wife met in Honolulu and married in July 2014. Multiple photos are posted on their Facebook pages of them embracing one another. In July 2015 Carcamo posted a photo of a card and a bouquet of red roses Carcamo-Lopez gave her for their first wedding anniversary.
Affectionately called “MeAnn” by her family, Carcamo was born and raised in Bicol, Philippines, one of six siblings. She arrived in Hawaii in 2011, and her son arrived a few months later. Relatives said she worked as a sales associate at an ABC store in Waikiki and also recently started working as a housekeeper at the Ilikai Hotel &Luxury Suites.
Her other niece, Kenny Go, said, “She was very thoughtful and friendly” and always helped everyone, especially her family.
The eldest among her siblings, Carcamo often sent money to her parents, three brothers and two sisters in the Philippines to assist them. “She’s the breadwinner,” Go added.
She was a beautiful woman inside and out, relatives said. Anguished by her aunt’s death, Go broke down in tears, saying Carcamo helped raise her. “She’s my very closest auntie.”
Family members said she will be best remembered for her loving and caring nature. “Everybody loves her and misses her so much,” Go said.
Rizan added, “She’s the greatest mother in the whole world.”
Relatives plan to hold a memorial in Honolulu before her family brings her back home to the Philippines for her burial. The time and date of the memorial are pending.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help with funeral expenses and assist in taking Carcamo’s remains to the Philippines. Those interested in making a donation can go to gofundme.com/3ty2jzk.
