Killing of generous Hilo couple stuns community

Relatives and community members are shocked over the deaths of Jeffrey and Carla Takamine, owners of a popular cookie and confections company, who were found dead Monday in a Hilo home.

“Both Jeffrey and Carla were very special people,” said Jeffrey Takamine’s first cousin, former legislator Dwight Takamine. “They were the very heart of their family, and they were so supportive not only of their children, but the rest of the ohana.”

Hawaii island police found the Takamines, owners of Big Island Delights, dead with stab wounds Monday at a Makalika Street home in Hilo.

Prosecutors charged the couple’s grandson, 21-year-old Joshua Makana Jiro Ho, Tuesday with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in connection with their deaths.

Ho, of Hilo, was also charged with one count of second-degree attempted murder. His bail is set at $2.75 million.

South Hilo patrol officers responded to a call of an unknown disturbance at the home shortly before 7 a.m. Monday. When they arrived, they found the Takamines, both 68, dead, the Hawaii Police Department said.

Officers arrested Ho, who was being restrained by family members at the residence. He was taken to Hilo Medical Center for lacerations to his hands before he was transferred to the police cellblock in Hilo.

Police said a 28-year-old man sustained multiple lacerations to his head. He was taken to a hospital where he was treated and released.

Detectives recovered multiple large kitchen knives from the residence.

Takamine, who served 26 years as a representative and senator at the state Legislature, grew up with Jeffrey Takamine in Honokaa.

He recalled the hard work his cousin and Carla Takamine poured into their cookie and confections business, which opened in 1996.

They expanded their product line to locally grown coffee, bagel chips and other goodies, according to the company website.

Dwight Takamine, who also served as director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said Jeffrey and Carla Takamine passed their work ethic to their children.

He remembered how his own son worked for Big Island Delights, making cookies and other treats.

“For us it’s a huge loss, but there will always be many, many warm memories because of who they were,” Takamine said of Jeffrey and Carla Takamine.

David Shiigi, who lives about a quarter-mile away from the Takamines, knew the couple for more than 20 years. “They had many friends, and a lot of people loved them.”

It’s just so tragic, Shiigi said. “The Takamines, they’re the type of people, when you think about them, there’s only good feelings about them.”

He described the couple as giving, humble and supportive.

Shiigi, who owns and operates a plant nursery business, Bromeliads Hawaii LLC, with his daughter, recalled how Carla Takamine always gave him treats from Big Island Delights to give to colleagues at conferences he attended on the mainland and in Australia. “She was always there to help promote aloha with her generous heart,” he added.

“There’s going to be a major void in the Big Island community with the Takamines no longer with us,” Shiigi said.

Executive Officer Miles Yoshioka of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce said the couple’s death is “tough on a lot of us.”

“We couldn’t imagine something like this happening,” he said.

Yoshioka described Jeffrey and Carla Takamine as generous, as the couple always went above and beyond to help nonprofit organizations. He said Carla Takamine was a sweet woman who uplifted people’s spirits. “We should all be more like that.”’

In a statement Tuesday, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth, said, “It is with deep sadness and hurt that I’ve learned of the unexpected deaths of Uncle Jeff and Aunty Carla Takamine — both of whom I’ve been blessed to call friends. They were two of the most generous, giving, and caring people I’ve ever known, and I join in the grieving of many throughout our community who have had the privilege to be touched by their warmth and aloha. Through that warmth, I ask that we hold the Takamine family in our thoughts as they go through a time of great hurt, sadness, and healing.”

“In hard times, our community comes together, and I trust that we will continue to rally around the Takamines as they deal with this tragic incident,” Roth said.