KEALAKEKUA — A Holualoa man standing trial with his brother for murder was seen on video, played in a courtroom before a jury, confessing to killing Dolores “Lolo” Borja-Valle after first pronouncing his innocence to the crime.
The second day of trial for Eber Miranda-Garcia and Marlon Miranda-Garcia was underway Thursday with former Hawaii Police Detective Walter Ah Mow taking the stand in 3rd Circuit Court a second time.
The brothers are accused of second-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy to commit murder in connection to Lolo’s death. The 69-year-old man’s body was found dumped in a Captain Cook coffee field off Keopuka Mauka Road on Aug. 9, 2015.
Eber Miranda-Garcia and his brothers Marlon and Himer weren’t taken into custody until June of 2017. Himer was released and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement.
The Miranda-Garcias were tenants at Lolo’s house. Eber Miranda-Garcia lived upstairs with his wife and daughter and his brothers lived in a room next to Lolo.
Deputy Prosecutor Sheri Lawson submitted into evidence the recording of advisement of rights and interview Ah Mow and Detective David Matsushima conducted with Eber Miranda-Garcia on June 27, 2017, at the Hawaii Police Station in Kona. The recording was then played for the jury.
Ah Mow is seen advising of Eber Miranda-Garcia of his rights with the assistance of a Spanish interpreter and asking if he understood. When he acknowledged “yes,” the detective asked that Eber Miranda-Garcia initial a piece of paper.
“Before I fill this out I need to know if you have evidence against me,” Eber Miranda-Garcia is heard saying through the translator in the video.
When questioned about Lolo, Eber Miranda-Garcia indicated that he got along well with him and they used to go hunting together. He added that the 69-year-old told him that he had threatened two people with a machete three days before Lolo was killed.
“Something happened that night, Eber,” Ah Mow stated in the video.
The Holualoa man was heard insisting that nothing happened. Ah Mow stated that he had evidence against Eber and asked repeatedly: “What did Lolo do?” and “What happened that night?”
Eventually, Eber Miranda-Garcia is heard in the video saying he wanted to speak to his wife.
“As soon as you bring my wife, I’ll tell you everything,” he stated through the translator.
The video stopped and the recording picked back up with Ah Mow, Matsushima and the translator entering the interview room. Ah Mow again, asking Eber Miranda-Garcia what happened the night Lolo died.
“What I said before was all a lie,” he said in the video.
Eber Miranda-Garcia went on to explain that Lolo had threatened him Saturday at around 10:30 a.m.
“My daughter was sick. She had a fever and was crying a lot,” he stated.
Eber Miranda-Garcia continued, saying Lolo called him downstairs and threatened to take his daughter and wife away and have him deported. The 69-year-old accused Eber of hitting his daughter.
“I told him he couldn’t do that,” Eber Miranda-Garcia stated. “Only God and the law could do that.”
In the video, the Holualoa man is seen telling Ah Mow about how Lolo threatened to kill him in the past.
Later that night, while his brothers and wife were upstairs in their home, Eber Miranda-Garcia confessed to going downstairs and seeing Lolo with a rifle.
“He had the rifle in his hand all day,” he stated.
At that point, Eber Miranda-Garcia is heard through the Spanish interpreter saying he attacked Lolo from behind. He hit him with his hands and with stones.
Eber Miranda-Garcia confessed that after Lolo had been dead for about an hour, he put a trash bag over him, put him in the 69-year-old’s truck, then drove to the Captain Cook coffee field, where he pushed the body out of the vehicle.
After that, Eber Miranda-Garcia told Ah Mow in the video, he abandoned the truck in Ocean View and walked to a gas station in town, where he caught a ride back into Kona.
“Nobody helped me,” he stated through the translator. “I did it by myself.”
Detective Matsushima was heard addressing Eber Miranda-Garcia.
“I believe you want to protect your family, but your story doesn’t ring true,” he stated. “I admire the fact that you want to take the blame, you didn’t do this alone.”
Eber Miranda-Garcia reiterates again in the video that what he said was the truth.
“If you want to put my brothers in jail that would be up to you, but that would be an injustice,” he stated. “You wouldn’t like if anyone were take your daughter away, would you?”
After the video recording was played, Ah Mow was questioned about evidence collected and how it was submitted. He indicated the brothers were never persons of interest in the case until their phone numbers appeared in the data collection of the cellphone towers at Keopuka Mauka Road in South Kona and Prince Kuhio Boulevard in Ocean View, where the truck was found.
Ah Mow testified that prior to talking to Eber Miranda-Garcia, he never discovered the crime scene where Lolo had been killed. While evidence and a brown stain in Lolo’s carport were tested for blood, no evidence returned or sign of struggle was apparent at the Holualoa house.
Eber Miranda-Garcia’s defense counsel Terri Fujioka-Lilley began cross examination of Ah Mow on Thursday afternoon before court adjourned for the day. The trial will continue Tuesday.