(BIVN) – A Kurtistown has been indicted by a Kona grand jury in connection with the June 2024 death of his wife in Mountain View.

79-year-old Jong Man Kim was arrested on March 24th on a $1.5 million Indictment warrant by Hawai‘i Police Department officers with assistance from the U.S. Marshals, prosecutors say. The next day, Kim made his initial appearance in Hilo Circuit Court.

On June 20, 2024, the body of 71-year-old Yong Cha Kim was found lying in a prone position on the kitchen floor of her Mountain View residence, prosecutors say.

The Hawaiʻi Police Department provided these details back in June 2024:

Around 3:14 p.m. on the afternoon of June 20, Puna patrol officers responded to a residence in the 16-1100 block of Uhini Ana Road in Mountain View after an elderly man found his wife laying unresponsive on the floor within their residence. Responding officers observed that Kim had sustained several suspicious injuries and that items within the residence appeared to be disturbed. It was also reported that several items were stolen from the residence.

Hawai‘i Fire Department medics also responded and upon conducting a check on Kim, determined she had no signs of life. Kim was transported to the Hilo Benioff Medical Center where she was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m.

On Friday morning, June 30, a forensic pathologist performed an autopsy on the victim and determined that the cause of death was strangulation and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Hawaiʻi County Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen says Kim is charged with Murder in the Second Degree, which carries a penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The Court maintained Kim’s bail at $1.5 million and also ordered that he surrender his passport. Kim was ordered to appear for jury trial on August 10, 2026.