An Oahu grand jury on Wednesday indicted Lehua Kalua, 44, and Isaac “Sonny” Kalua III, 52, on charges of second-degree murder, abuse and related charges in the death of their adopted daughter, Isabella “Ariel” Kalua.
The indictment also charges the couple with abusing Isabella’s 12-year-old biological sister, who they also had adopted.
City Prosecutor Steve Alm said at a press conference Wednesday that although both parents are charged with murder, “Lehua Kalua is charged with inflicting the damage that led to the death of their adopted daughter.” The allegations against her include that she had a duty to act, yet failed to call law enforcement or for medical care after the child suffered serious injury. The charge against Isaac Kalua is for murder by omission for failing to call for law enforcement or medical care, Alm explained.
The Kaluas were arrested Nov. 10. Both are being held without bail.
Police said Isabella was killed in mid-August, although the Kaluas reported her missing Sept. 13. Deputy Police Chief Lisa Mann had no updates Wednesday on the search for the Waimanalo child’s remains.
The grand jury was given details of alleged horrific abuse dating back to Feb. 8, 2019. Isabella was just 3 years old when she went to live with the Kaluas, and her older sister was 9. The sisters were subjected to “various forms of mental and physical abuse at the hands of both defendants,” a prosecutor told grand jurors.
“Both children had been duct-taped and repeatedly hit without provocation or justification,” Family Prosecution Division Chief Tiffany Kaeo said. Isabella had been banned from eating food and her older siblings were “forced to monitor (her) eating and would be punished for trying to help (her).”
Armed with arrest and search warrants, police arrested Lehua Kalua at their Waimanalo home, while Isaac Kalua was taken into custody at his workplace at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The home was raided by FBI and police, who searched and seized items. The FBI also dug up portions of the yard and looked into nearby manholes.
A complaint filed in Circuit Court last week said Isabella’s older sister revealed Isabella had been denied food and kept in a dog cage. Just before her death her mouth and nose had been duct-taped and she lost consciousness, according to court documents. The sister also said at the direction of Lehua Kalua she helped carry Isabella into a bathtub of water to allegedly revive her, then the child’s lifeless body was carried to bed.
After Isabella died, the Kaluas “took multiple steps to destroy evidence, including throwing away various items at various locations around the island, cleaning the house extensively with various cleaning agents, and purchasing products to mask the smell of odors,” Kaeo said.
Kaeo read a statement detailing specific allegations outlined in the indictment during the bail hearing that followed Wednesday’s grand jury proceeding as prosecutors sought to keep the couple in custody without bail.
According to Kaeo, Isabella and her older sister missed school more than 20 times in an apparent attempt “to have the older child take care of the other children and to conceal (Isabella).”
According to Kaeo’s statement in court Wednesday, in one incident in June, Isabella was “hit in the face with an object” by Lehua Kalua, which gave the girl a black eye. On another occasion in July or August, Isabella’s neck was shoved down against a crib railing, in a “strangling-type position, causing her chin to rub against the crib and a large cut/scab to form.”
An investigation uncovered surveillance video at the home showing the girl was last recorded alive Aug. 18.
“Statements revealed that (Isabella) had been placed in a dog cage in the home with her mouth and nose covered by duct tape. When found, she was dead. Victim was kept in a dog cage so as to prevent her from eating,” Kaeo wrote.
The indictment alleges that the Kaluas knowingly endangered the physical or mental welfare of Isabella and her sister, and failed to provide food, clothing, shelter, education and other necessary care.
Alm said the investigation continues.
He noted the “horrendous facts of the case. It’s really sickening. … That’s why I think it’s important the police didn’t give up. They kept working hard day after day for months to develop a case,” Alm said.
He declined to comment on the probability that Isabella’s body may not be found before the murder case goes to trial. However, he said he successfully prosecuted what he believes was Hawaii’s first “no body” case in 1988 against a Navy Seal who murdered his wife.
In 2008, Kirk Lankford, a termite and pest control technician, was convicted in the murder of Masumi Watanabe, whose body was never found.
If the Kaluas are convicted, Alm said he will seek life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, which is usually reserved for first-degree murder cases.
He said an extended term is allowable under state law because the victim was under the age of 9.
“We are working extremely hard at this,” Alm said at the joint news conference with police Wednesday. “This is a heinous crime. They need to be held accountable.”
“We’re looking at this to hold people accountable and bring some closure to the situation,” Alm said.
Murder in the second degree carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole. First-degree murder is only used in cases of murder of law enforcement, a prosecutor, witnesses or multiple victims.
Both parents also were indicted on one count of first-degree hindering prosecution, two counts of persistent nonsupport and two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. Additionally, Lehua Kalua was indicted on two counts of abuse of family members.
Isaac Kalua has prior convictions for second-degree assault and first-degree terroristic threatening and has “ties to the continental U.S.,” said Kaeo. Lehua Kalua is unemployed and has no prior convictions.
Her past includes an indictment on drug charges, which were dropped after she completed a drug program.
Kaluas Indictment 2021-11-17 by Honolulu Star-Advertiser
