Honolulu police open homicide case after man’s body discovered off trail in Kailua

Homicide and crime reduction unit officers combed the area along a dirt trail in the small luxury home subdivision of Norfolk in Kailua for clues after the body of a man was found Wednesday afternoon.

Homicide Lt. Deena Thoemmes said injuries to the body appeared to be suspicious, but would not provide any details of those injuries.

A pair of hunters discovered the body and reported it to police at about 1:06 p.m. Wednesday.

Patrol and CRU officers from Kaneohe were sent to investigate the discovery near Aleka Place and Old Kalanianaole Street.

Homicide detectives confirmed that the injuries were suspicious and Thoemmes said the case was then classified as a homicide.

Thoemmes said she was made aware late this afternoon of another police investigation Monday morning at the Waimanalo end of Old Kalanianaole Street but did not disclose the nature of that investigation or whether it may be related to this case.

The body was found on the side of the mountain off the trail. It took approximately 10 to 15 minutes for officers to get to the body.

Thoemmes declined to provide an approximate age of the man or whether there was any decomposition. She said the man’s identity is unknown, so could not say whether it was related to any recent missing person report.

She also would neither confirm nor deny whether the body was found duct-taped as one news report indicated.

Thoemmes said she could not identify the trail but said it was large enough for people to drive on.

Area residents say that the discovery is disturbing, but it’s not the first time that a body was found in their neighborhood.

Peggy Failla said, “Nobody wants to have a dead body found in their neighborhood. It makes me sad that anybody would kill someone else and for that body to be found in our neighborhood.”

She and her husband, Sam Failla, 66, regularly walk the main road in the subdivision of 43 homes, and residents are always on the lookout for suspicious cars or persons, and report it to police.

Peggy Failla suspects the body was likely “brought up here,” and disposed of.

The couple recalls the body of a man found in the early 1990s inside a truck utility box, which was dumped nearby down the side of the road.

Sam Failla said a friend of his spotted the box and thought there might be tools inside. Instead, he found the body. He recalls the suspect was the dead man’s drywall business partner, who was caught in Las Vegas.

The Faillas say that what makes it easy to dump a body in the area is a lot of off-road vehicles, including dirt bikes and 4-wheel-drive trucks that travel up steep makeshift dirt trails just off Old Kalanianaole Street. Hikers, air-soft gun enthusiasts and pig hunters also frequent the area.