Julie Royal finally got the answers she needed Tuesday after she learned that the person who killed her pregnant daughter Brittany Jane Royal nearly eight months ago was her daughter’s boyfriend, Boaz Johnson.
Royal, 25, was found floating in waters off Kalapana in May, and Hawaii County police said she had been strangled. Police identified Johnson, 22, as a suspect but could not find him.
On Tuesday police announced that Johnson confessed in a journal to killing Royal, then hanged himself near where the couple used to camp in Kalapana. His body was found earlier this month, but authorities did not release his identity until Tuesday.
"It’s all sad," Royal’s mother said by phone from California. "It’s a little bit of a sense of relief that we have some answers. It doesn’t make anything any better. It’s just a ‘now we know.’"
The case began to come together when a hiker found a decomposing body hanging from a tree Jan. 2. Authorities identified it as Johnson through DNA and dental records. Police said a composition book found near the tree had three handwritten pages that identified Johnson as the writer and said he had strangled Royal during an argument, then threw her body into the ocean. Johnson also wrote that he intended to kill himself.
A handwriting expert determined that Johnson was the author of the journal entry.
Police said Johnson became a suspect after he told a friend in a phone conversation that he and Royal were in good health and on their way to Hilo after Royal’s body had already been found.
DNA and other evidence at the crime scene also made Johnson an early suspect. According to police documents, a bundled nylon rope with the same width as marks on Royal’s neck was found inside the couple’s tent on the lava field.
Before the murder, Royal had recently moved to Kalapana from Tustin, Calif., and Johnson, a native of Petersburg, Alaska, had recently moved to Hawaii.
Johnson’s parents could not be reached for comment, but previously told media that they did not believe their son was involved in Royal’s death.
"They were in love," Johnson’s father, Tom, said in an earlier interview.
Julie Royal, who met Johnson only once, thought he was a "nice kid" and didn’t believe he was the killer until police released their findings. She said she feels sympathy for his family.
"They’re grieving, too," she said. "What they’re going through is a different kind of pain than we are. They’re good people."
She said her ex-husband and father came to Hawaii to attend the Police Department’s news conference Tuesday. She plans to come to Hawaii next month to celebrate the life of her daughter, whom she still prays to every night.
Royal’s father, Ted, said: "All the questions we had, all the speculation, all the misinformation, everything has been cleared up.
"It’s over," he said, praising police and prosecutors for their work.
Royal said police showed him the pages from the notebook: "He (Boaz Johnson) details his feelings, he details what happened. He clearly admitted to strangling Brittany and throwing her in the ocean. He clearly wrote that down."
His daughter never indicated any violence in the short relationship, Royal said.
"It’s two kids that got into a heated argument, and he made a bad decision," he said. "I’m not in the forgiving phase yet, but I know I’ll have to forgive in order to move on and to heal."
"It’s been tough," Julie Royal said of the investigation. "The first three months I was kind of obsessed with it. I had to let it go."
She became exhausted from trying to follow speculation online in her desire to know the truth. Some reports claimed a tour operator had threatened Johnson for giving lava tours, while handwritten signs appeared in Puna, claiming Johnson was dead and that the real killer remained on the loose.
Julie Royal, who also has 19- and 22-year-old sons, said her daughter was two months pregnant at the time of her death. She said she has dreams of her daughter, who played the guitar, teaching her grandchild how to play. She said Brittany wanted to name the child ‘Io.
"It’ll never go away," she said. "I see little signs all the time that she’s with us."
"Brittany loved people," she said. "She was all about peace and love, and I do not believe that Brittany would want us to have hate in our hearts. I will choose not to hate because Brittany would not want me to hate."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
