An 81-year-old Hilo woman held up her arms to defend herself against her 30-year-old neighbor before he fatally stabbed her in the mouth Saturday morning, a witness told police, according to documents filed Monday in Hilo District Court.
Responding police officers found Lola Loebl at
7:30 a.m. Saturday lying in her driveway at 257 Olu St. with several lacerations to her face and mouth, with blood pooling on the ground near her head, and arrested the neighbor.
Keoni Peter Tosie Brown made his initial court appearance via cellblock video Monday at Hilo District Court on charges of second-
degree murder and first-degree terroristic threatening.
Judge Jeffrey Hawk maintained his bail at $2.02 million and ordered he appear Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Witness Samantha Iopa,
a 38-year-old neighbor, said she heard someone yelling, “Ahhh, help!” from Loebl’s house across the street at about 7:15 a.m. Saturday.
“Upon stepping outside she saw her elderly neighbor’s dog running toward her,” then saw the suspect attempting to stab Loebl, the court documents say.
Iopa recognized Brown, who lives at 261 Olu St., and told police she saw Loebl “raising her arms in an attempt to defend herself.”
Iopa said Brown then wrapped his free arm around Loebl to restrain her as he stabbed her in the mouth with a knife, which remained lodged in her mouth.
Iopa ran across the street to confront him, and he fled to the garage at 261 Olu St., where he lives.
She then ran home and called 911.
Iopa said that when she returned, Brown had removed the knife from Loebl’s mouth and was making stabbing motions toward Iopa, mumbling, “What, bitch? What, bitch?”
She was standing on the roadway in front of Loebl’s house, about 20 feet from her body.
Iopa said Brown apparently changed his clothes and was no longer wearing the red shirt and black shorts he had on when he stabbed Loebl.
Instead, he was wearing green camouflage shorts and was shirtless.
Police found Brown hiding along a fence on his property adjoining the victim’s property.
Iopa positively identified Brown at 9:58 a.m. Saturday from a photo lineup.
He was arrested without incident and transported to the East Hawaii Detention Facility, police said.
Hawaii County firefighters determined Loebl had no signs of life, so no lifesaving measures were taken. She was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 9:57 a.m., police said.
Police, armed with search warrants, found on Saturday afternoon the red shirt under a metal structure on the property where he lived and near where he was apprehended. They found the black shorts in the shipping container. They also recovered a large knife with a silver blade and black handle submerged in water inside a black plastic container.
According to court documents, “white smear marks” were found on the blade of the knife, consistent with what “appeared to be human fat, a substance commonly observed in stabbing incidents.”
The Prosecutor’s Office charged Brown on Sunday morning.
Checks were made on Brown with the National Crime Information Center and the Criminal Justice Information Services databases and came up negative for felony convictions, and his DNA is not on file.
Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Munoz recommended
a high bail amount. Judge Kanani Laubach ordered
the bail amount be set at $2.02 million.
An autopsy is scheduled for this week to determine the exact cause of death.
