Grand jury indicts suspect in Big Island kidnapping

A Hawaii island grand jury returned an indictment against 52-year-old Duncan Kealoha Mahi on Wednesday, charging him in connection with the abduction of a 15-year-old girl in Wai­ko­loa last week.

Mahi was indicted on two counts of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of methamphetamine trafficking, one count of sex assault of a minor who is at least 14 years old but younger than 16 years old, one count of first-degree sex assault and two counts of third-degree sex assault.

If convicted, he could face imprisonment without the possibility of parole because of his previous felony terroristic threatening convictions, the indictment said.

Mahi allegedly abducted the teenager from a beach at Anaehoomalu Bay Friday afternoon. The abduction triggered a Maile Amber Alert. The next day, the 15-year-old broke free from her captor with the help of good Samaritans at a restaurant in Hilo where he had taken her to get something to eat.

Police in court documents said a witness followed the suspect and took photos of the man’s car — a white Honda CR-V — before the man drove away. Police arrested Mahi in Hilo that afternoon.

Prior to the grand jury indictment, Mahi appeared at a preliminary hearing at Kona District Court Wednesday morning in an orange prison jumpsuit and with his wrists shackled.

Hawaii police Sgt. Bradden Kimura, one of the first officers to respond to the alleged abduction, testified at the hearing that he responded to a 911 call from a frantic teenage boy who said he was robbed at knifepoint and that his girlfriend was missing.

Kimura said that while talking to the boy, he observed what appeared to be blue painter’s tape on the back of the teen’s head and in his hair, and pieces of tape on his wrists and ankles.

Police in court documents said the teenage girl stated that her abductor put a knife to her throat and instructed her to bind her boyfriend’s wrists and ankles together with zip ties and tape that the abductor handed to her. The girl was then told to cover his head with a towel and secure it with the tape.

Mahi then allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted her before shackling the girl inside a yellow bus on his Hilo property.

The next day, the teen persuaded her captor to take her to Cafe Pesto in Hilo to get something to eat. Police said a witness heard screams from the alleyway near the restaurant and saw the teen struggling to get away from a man. She managed to break free and ran.

Court documents said that after police arrested Mahi on suspicion of kidnapping, officers executed a search warrant at his property where they recovered a brown fabric cuff with a cable attached to a metal bracket that was welded onto a metal bar inside a yellow bus — just as the victim had described.

Also found in the bus was blue tape similar to the tape used to bind the teenage boy’s wrists and ankles. A bucket containing zip ties was located next to the tape, police said, noting the ties were the same type officers recovered from the rear floorboards of Mahi’s Honda CR-V.

Mahi remains in custody at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center in lieu of $2 million bail.