KEALAKEKUA — Brothers accused of murdering a Holualoa man in August 2015 entered a not guilty plea during their arraignment and plea hearings Thursday.
Judge Melvin Fujino scheduled jury trial dates for Eber Miranda-Garcia, 27, and Marlon Miranda-Garcia, 24, in December.
Deputy Prosecutor Sheri Lawson asked that bail of $500,000 be maintained for both men, who are currently in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center. The court granted the request.
Eber and Marlon Miranda-Garcia are charged in the murder of Dolores Borja-Valle, also known as Lolo, who was found dead in a Captain Cook coffee field on Aug. 9, 2015.
Testimony during the preliminary hearing last month revealed Miranda-Garcias’ alleged connection to the crime through DNA and phone records.
Eber Miranda-Garcia’s wife, Jessilyn Hoohuli, was also initially taken into custody and a third brother, Himer Miranda-Garcia, turned himself in.
Hoohuli was released pending the investigation and Himer Miranda-Garcia was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement.
Former Hawaii Police Department Detective Walter Ah Mow testified in the preliminary hearing that DNA swabs collected from inside Lolo’s truck, which was found abandoned in Ocean View, connected the death to Eber Miranda-Garcia.
Ah Mow was lead detective on Lolo’s case before he retired in July.
Ah Mow told the court that Eber Miranda-Garcia told him Lolo, who was his landlord at the time, threatened to take away his wife and kids and call immigration.
After dinner on Aug. 8, 2015, the former detective testified, Eber Miranda-Garcia went to speak with Lolo who was outside near the chicken coop on their Holualoa property. Lolo was holding a gun because there had been pigs in the area.
“He attacked Lolo from behind,” Ah Mow stated. “He told me he used rocks to bash his head in.”
Right after killing Lolo, Ah Mow testified Eber Miranda-Garcia told him he got a trash bag and covered him from the top down and put him in the back seat of Lolo’s truck. He wore gloves to clean up the blood.
According to Eber Miranda-Garcia’s statement to the detective, Ah Mow testified the suspect took the victim to a coffee field in Captain Cook, opened the truck door and pushed the body out, where it rolled down an embankment.
Ah Mow said Eber Miranda-Garcia’s statement to him later indicated he drove Lolo’s truck to Ocean View where he abandoned it. He walked to gas station then hitchhiked back to Kona when he later called his brother, Marlon Miranda-Garcia.
“He said he killed Lolo by himself,” Ah Mow said.
Ah Mow testified that he questioned Eber Miranda-Garcia’s confession. He said where Lolo’s body was found it looked like it had been placed there. There was no evidence of the body rolling down the embankment.
Ah Mow added the injuries didn’t match the description of a rock. However, Eber Miranda-Garcia iterated to the detective that it was a sharp rock he used to hit Lolo on the head.
Despite the discrepancies in his confession, Ah Mow told the court he believed Eber Miranda-Garcia committed the murder of Lolo. However, he didn’t believe the 27-year-old acted alone despite his assertions that he did.
Phone records were also looked at in the case. LeVon Stevens with the Hawaii Police Department said the distance between where the body was found and where the truck was located was about 35 or 36 miles away.
In that area, he looked at two cellphone towers: Keopuka Mauka and Ocean View. Stevens said he conducted a tower dump to collect numbers between the two towers. Records indicate Marlon Miranda-Garcia’s phone was in the area where the body was found and had made phone calls to Eber Miranda-Garcia.
Stevens testified he also obtained cellphone records for Hoohuli and Himer Miranda-Garcia on Aug. 8-9, 2015.
“Records indicated they were all communicating through the night,” Stevens said.
A jury trial for Eber Miranda-Garcia has been scheduled for Dec. 12. Jury trial for Marlon Miranda-Garcia has been scheduled for Dec. 19.