Clothing worn by alleged killer sent for DNA testing

Court proceedings in the murder case of Danielle Caron two weeks ago in downtown Hilo are on hold, but police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding her slaying.

Curtis Quantez Hodges, 35, of Shiloh, Ill., is charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of the 49-year-old Caron in the early morning of Aug. 14. He’s being held without bail while a court-ordered mental examination is performed, and has been ordered to return to court at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 22.

Court documents note a man later identified by police as Hodges was seen on surveillance video following Caron into an alcove at 76 Kamehameha Ave., fronting the Koehnen Building, and leaving the alcove eight minutes later. A 60-year-old man, Clayton Kahunanui, reported finding the body to police at 12:42 a.m.

While there appeared to be a substantial amount of blood at the crime scene, none of the documents initially filed in court by police contain any mention blood on the body or clothes of Hodges when he was arrested at the Hilo Bay Hostel at about 11 a.m. Aug. 14.

Capt. Robert Wagner of the Hilo Criminal Investigation Division told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on Wednesday police “did recover what appeared to be blood on a clothing item that we do believe the suspect wore at the time of the incident.”

Documents indicate Hodges was wearing a dark T-shirt that read “Shock the Nation” and long, black basketball shorts with four horizontal pink stripes stacked in a vertical pattern running along the front of the right leg.

The police booking photo of Hodges shows what appears to be swelling of his lips.

Criminal suspects in custody often wear the clothes they were arrested in at their initial court appearances, but Hodges was clad in a blue paper jumpsuit for his arraignment in Hilo District Court. Wagner said items of his clothing have been sent off-island for laboratory testing.

“We’re having specific items tested now,” he said. “And we’ll probably get the results in the next couple of days, and then we’ll send a second wave of items.”

On Aug. 19, police Detective Robert Almeida, the lead investigator in the case, led a team which included Hawaii County Fire Department divers, to the coastline by Coconut Point Lighthouse at Kaipalaoa Landing, near the murder scene. Documents state video surveillance shows Hodges going there on the night of the crime.

Asked if police have recovered what they believe to be the murder weapon, Wagner replied, “No.”

“Well, we found an item in the water there. We do not know if that was the murder weapon or not,” he added. “It didn’t seem to me to be the correct item, but it’s possible. … That’s why we collect these items, and we send them away to see if there’s any DNA that’s consistent with the victim’s DNA or the suspect’s DNA. That’s what we do. But at this point in time, we don’t know if the item that we collected is the item that we were looking for.”

Police and media accounts have described Caron as homeless, a characterization objected to by her daughter, Chloe.

John Williams, aka “Castle John,” who built and owns a three-story castle — complete with drawbridge — in Kalapana Seaview Estates, said in an email Caron was staying there. Case workers for Hope Services Hawaii told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald during a ride-along to count homeless in early February that Williams allows some homeless individuals to stay at the castle.

Others have told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that Caron rode a mo-ped and wondered what happened to it. Wagner said police recovered Caron’s mo-ped at the crime scene.

Wagner said although Hodges is charged with Caron’s slaying, investigation of the case continues.

“Even after we’ve sent the case to the prosecutor, there’s a bunch of new things to do,” he said. “It’s kind of neverending, actually, until you get a conviction.”

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.