(BIVN) – Hawaiʻi police have forwarded the Puna murder investigation in the December 2022 death of 5-month-old Makia Alameda of Kalapana to the County Prosecutor’s office for review.

From the Hawaiʻi Police Department news release:

On December 31, 2022, shortly after 4:00 a.m., 911 dispatchers received a call from the child’s 21-year-old mother, that she and her boyfriend were headed from their Kalapana residence towards the Pahoa Fire Station with their unresponsive five-month-old baby boy. Puna patrol officers and Hawai’i Fire Department (HFD) personnel intercepted the vehicle on Highway 130 near Leilani Estates. HFD personnel immediately began attempting life-saving measures on the baby while transporting her via ambulance to the Hilo Medical Center Emergency Room. She was later pronounced dead at 5:54 a.m.   

During the course of this investigation, detectives with the Area I Criminal Investigation Section conducted numerous interviews with the child’s parents, as well as other witnesses, and performed many follow-ups. The scene was identified and processed, and items of evidence were recovered.

An autopsy was performed on January 2, 2023, and the forensic pathologist ruled the cause of death was asphyxia, and the manner of death was determined to be homicide. The baby was also noted to have acute blunt force injuries, as well some in the healing stages.

This case was initially classified as a coroner’s inquest investigation until detectives received the final autopsy report in late 2023, when it was reclassified to second-degree murder. 

Police ask anyone with information about this case to contact the Area I Criminal Investigation Section, at (808) 961-2255.

NOTE: A previous police news release incorrectly identified the 5-month-old as a baby girl.