A 36-year-old Pahoa man charged with murder allegedly told a police detective he choked the victim, tried to drown her by putting water on her face, and sprayed her with a fire extinguisher.
The suspect, Michael Carvalho II, also described the victim, 34-year-old Makalapuanani “Maka” Mauga, as a missing juvenile that he helped, according to court documents filed by police.
Mauga’s partially clothed, lifeless body was found early Thursday morning at a vacant home in the 15-300 block of Kahakai Boulevard in Pahoa’s Hawaiian Beaches subdivision.
Mauga was found lying on her stomach, her hands bound by rope and her feet by a size XL men’s T-shirt.
Her body was covered by a blue substance that appeared to be the contents of an empty fire extinguisher found on the property, and water was running through a nearby garden hose hooked up to a bloody spigot, police said.
Carvalho was found hiding near a rock wall on the property in the fetal position with a rusty crowbar in his possession, according to documents.
He was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, second-degree property damage, habitual property crime and first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer.
The assault charge was for allegedly spitting in the eye of police Detective Kevin Brodie at the Hilo police cellblock, according to documents.
Neighbors reported the sound of breaking glass and a woman’s screams that ended suddenly, documents state.
At Carvalho’s initial court appearance Monday, Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk denied a motion by Deputy Public Defender Megan Fellows to free Carvalho on court-supervised release without cash bail. Hawk maintained Carvalho’s bail at $1.055 million and ordered him to return to court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
The most serious charge, second-degree murder, normally carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole upon conviction.
County Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen said Monday in a statement, however, that prosecutors intend to seek a life sentence without the possibility of parole, alleging the murder was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
