(BIVN) – Police held a news conference on Wednesday as they seek the “extremely dangerous” Jacob Daniel Baker of Pāhoa, wanted in connection with three homicides in the Puna area.
More on the homicides at: Police Seek Jacob Baker, Suspect in Three Puna Homicides
The following is a transcript of the above featured video:
Captain Jeremy Scott Lewis, Area I Criminal Investigation Division, Hawaiʻi Police Department: Over the past two days, Hawaiʻi Island police have been investigating three suspicious deaths that occurred within the Puna district. Detectives are actively working to determine the circumstances surrounding these cases. The first incident occurred on Monday evening, May 25th, at approximately 7:59 p.m. Puna patrol officers responded to a residence off Railroad Avenue in Pāhoa. Upon arrival, officers located a male party partially submerged inside a cement pond. At the initial stages of the investigation, detectives could not immediately determine whether foul play was involved, as there were no indications that the death may have been related or possibly to a medical incident. However, following an autopsy conducted this morning, preliminary findings indicate that the death is being investigated as a homicide.
The second incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon, May 26, at approximately 12:39 p.m. Officers responded to a residence off Papaya Farms Road in Pāhoa. Officers located a deceased male with apparent blunt force trauma injuries. Based off of these injuries observed, detectives were able to determine early in the investigation that this case was a homicide. Later that same evening, at approximately 9:58 p.m., officers responded to a property off Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road in Pāhoa for the check of a welfare of a male party. Officers located another deceased male on the property with apparent injuries. Detectives immediately responded and are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding this death.
The first and second incidents occurred in close proximity, approximately 4-to-500 ft. The third incident occurred approximately 19 miles away from the first and second incident. Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigation Section have responded to all three scenes and have been working continuously throughout this investigation.
At this time, police are attempting to locate Jacob Baker, a 36-year-old male from Pāhoa, in questions for connections with this investigation. We are asking anyone who knows his whereabouts, or anyone who may have observed any suspicious activity in these areas, to go ahead and contact police immediately. Again, as the chief said earlier, this male party is considered armed and very dangerous. Please do not make contact with him. Call 911 immediately. We understand these incidents are deeply concerning to our community. I want to assure the public that our detectives, patrol officers, and partner agencies are working around the clock to gather information, follow up leads, and ensure the safety of our community.
Mayor Kimo Alameda, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you, Captain and Chief Moszkowicz. I too want to express my deepest sympathy to the families, friends, and loved ones of the three people who lost their lives. Our community mourns with you and we will do everything in our power to support you and bring whoever is responsible to justice. Public safety is our highest priority and our office has, has been in close contact with the police department throughout this incident. This is an active, ongoing investigation, and we’ll continue to provide updates as the situation develops and just to make sure that you’re all safe and you’re informed. I also ask everyone to remain alert and vigilant, and to contact the police department if you have any information that could help this investigation. Okay, at this time I’d like to turn it back to the chief and to the captain for any questions. Mahalo.
Chief Reed Mahuna, Hawaiʻi Police Department: The suspect in this case is known to the community and known to the police. We don’t have any significant contacts with him recently, but he is someone that is known uh to the police.
QUESTION: So, we’re hearing talk of a potential fourth victim. Is that something you folks have been alerted to or—
Mahuna: We are not aware of a fourth victim at this time.
Denise Laitinen, PIO for Hawaiʻi Police Department: And again… if people have information like that, they are encouraged to call 911 or our non-emergency line, 808-935-3311, for our officers in order to investigate that.
QUESTION: Are these believed to be random killings or targeted?
Mahuna: At this time, we don’t have a motive. Uh, so we do not know uh the motive of the suspect other than to say that we are confident that the suspect is um involved in all three homicides.
QUESTION: We have an additional question from Tiffany DeMasters at Big Island Now. Do we know how the victims are connected at this time?
Mahuna: We don’t have any connection between the victims other than the fact that victim number one and number two lived in close proximity to one another. We don’t have, uh we don’t have a connection between the three victims other than that.
QUESTION: How did you folks identify Baker as a suspect? What leads did you folks receive?
Mahuna: We’re we’re not able to discuss that at this time.
QUESTION: What are the active search efforts currently underway at this time?
Mahuna: So, we have significant resources uh out in the Puna district following up on leads where we feel the suspect may be. We cannot disclose at this time exactly what methods we’re using uh to search uh for the suspect as he’s still at large.
QUESTION: Is there a message for Baker if he is watching this?
Mahuna: Absolutely. Uh, if uh the suspect is watching this, we would like him to contact the police, turn himself in, and don’t risk any further harm to anyone else or himself. Just come in. He can surrender to the police and uh that would be my message.
QUESTION: Is the suspect known to have any sort of um firearm or weapon that you guys can share, any known by the police?
Mahuna: Yes, we don’t we don’t know him to have, to have access or to have a firearm. A firearm was not used in any of the three homicides. But he could always get access to one later, but as far as we know, we don’t have any information to that effect.
QUESTION: Why do you believe Baker is responsible for all three killings?
Mahuna: We are not able to disclose what investigation led to that. However, our investigation led to us being able to uh put together that he is a suspect in all three. Uh, we can’t disclose that at this time.
QUESTION: What makes police believe three homicides are related?
Mahuna: Throughout our investigation, we determined that they are connected. Um, we cannot uh disclose at this time the evidence that we have that connects the three, uh or the method that we used to uh get that information, but we are confident that um the suspect here is responsible or involved in all three homicides.
QUESTION: Are police investigating death threats against a woman who filed a restraining order against Baker?
Mahuna: That I’m not aware of. I’m not aware of that.
QUESTION: Do we have ages of the victims?
Mahuna: Yes. So victim number one is a male, 69 years old. Victim number two is a male, 79 years old. And victim number three is a male again, 69 years old.
QUESTION: Is there any indication that the blunt force trauma victims were victims of any type of weapons other than the human body?
Mahuna: Yes.
