Florida man charged with second-degree murder in 1982 slaying on Oahu

A grand jury on Friday indicted a Florida man, 61, with second-degree murder in a 1982 cold case on Oahu, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

Suspect Thomas Garner, a dental hygienist in Florida, has been charged with the September 1982 murder of Kathy Hicks, a 25-year-old Atlanta woman, whose body was found in Nuuanu.

Garner was stationed in Hawaii between April 1980 and October 1982. The case stumped Honolulu detectives at the time who sought help from the public in finding Hicks’ killer who may have been a man named Tony, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.

“The initial investigation by HPD homicide detectives was extensive but did not result in viable leads,” police said at the time.

Hicks was a Delta Air Lines reservation clerk who was in Hawaii to play in a softball tournament sponsored by United Airlines, according to Honolulu newspaper reports. She played softball at Kapiolani Park the day before her body was discovered.

HPD reported that Hicks’ body was found by joggers who were passing the Nuuanu area. Garner was identified as a suspect in the case after a DNA comparison.

Garner was previously convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the 1984 beating and strangling of U.S. Navy recruit Pamela Cahanes. Her body was dumped in an overgrown field in Central Florida just two days after she graduated from boot camp at the Orlando Naval Training Center.

Bail has been set at $2 million. Garner is pending extradition from Florida.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.