Criminology - The Honolulu Strangler

Episode Date: December 10, 2023

The Honolulu Strangler case is a series with multiple victims, all clearly linked to one killer. The term "serial killer" had first been used less than one decade before these murders began, so it really didn't take long for the Aloha state to have one of its own. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the case of The Honolulu Strangler. This perpetrator, assuming it is just one, was responsible for the deaths of at least five women. At least one very viable suspect popped up on police radar during the investigation, but charges were never brought against him. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

According to statistics, the average person walks past 36 murderers in their lifetime. Oh my God, she was murdered. It was a murderer. Unlike in Hollywood movies, they're not easy to spot. Where is she, buddy? Where is she? The devil made me turn her into ashes. They seamlessly blend into our everyday lives, assuming roles as friendly neighbors, helpful colleagues, or even the person lying beside you each night. I wanted to be out of jail. I couldn't wait till I got out. I was in there.

with someone who is clearly psychopathic. Using investigative research and primary audio, Moridology is an award-winning true-crime podcast that shines a light on the darkest corners of humanity. Through our investigation, we have attained evidence which we are not releasing at this time, which leads us to believe Jolene is not alive. Tune into morbidology each week across all podcast platforms.

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. listener discretion is advised. So, everyone, and welcome to episode 286 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, buddy. What's going on with you?

Not a whole lot. I was just doing a little bit of online shopping and trying to come up with some ideas for a couple of people for my holiday shopping. And I was like, you know what? I'm just not a good shopper or the people I'm shopping for are pretty difficult. I don't know, but a little bit of a dilemma I had. Yeah, I have that same thing in my life. Some of the people I buy for are very easy and some are very, very difficult to buy for. It's just you never know what to get them. You hate to get them something that they're going to return. A lot of times I try to buy gifts that are unreturnable. So they just have to live with it. If you go over their house and you don't see that strange gift you gave them, then you'll know that. They re-gifted it.

Exactly. Exactly. Hey, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Stacey Simmons, Sarah Dutton, Skyler Guidry jumped out to our highest level, and Claire. So that's a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks to everyone that takes the time to support the show.

It helps us out a lot. And for anyone that would like to, you can go over to patreon.com slash criminology. All right, buddy. Let's go ahead and jump right in. You know, we're approaching. 300 episodes. That's a big milestone for us. And we're pretty proud and excited for that. But it made us realize in reflecting back on all of our episodes that we have yet to cover a case from the great state of Hawaii. And we thought we needed to go ahead and do one from the Aloha state.

And it's a big one, too. Yeah, we're covering the case of the Honolulu Strangler. And I have to admit, since we decided to do this one. I have the Hawaii 5-0 theme song stuck in my head. It's sort of been there nonstop since I've been researching and reading this material. So I hope by doing this episode, I can get that out of my head. The Honolulu Strangler case is a series with multiple victims, all clearly linked to one killer. The term serial killer had first been used less than one decade before these murders began.

So it really didn't take long for the Aloha State to have one of its own. a little bit about the geography, an area we'll be talking about. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state in the U.S. Hawaii itself is one of eight islands in a chain known as the Hawaiian Islands with Honolulu located on Oahu's South Shore being the state capital. Honolulu has a population today of around 350,000 people, which is down from the 1980s, when the Honolulu strangler was striking. Back then, the population was around half a million.

As most listeners are probably aware, Honolulu, as well as many parts of Hawaii, are very popular tourist spots. In the center of Honolulu is Waikiki, which is very well known for its great surfing, designer stores, zoo, and several tropical themed bars. While Honolulu is certainly a beautiful place,

sought out by countless people who hoped to go there to visit and make lifelong memories, it also attracted a killer who roamed the streets, blending in while seeking out his next victim. On May 29, 1985, 25-year-old Vicky Purdy was out with some friends, clubbing in Waikiki. She had left her home in Millilani just before 8 p.m., kissing her husband Gary Purdy, a military helicopter pilot on her way out the door. though she was planning to call it a night early and took a cab back to her car, she never returned home. Her husband Gary first tried to page her but got no answer, so he went out searching for her. Her car was found in the parking lot of the Shorebird Hotel, where she had exited a taxi at around

midnight. There was a dent in it that hadn't been there when she left home. Gary was immediately concerned and reported her missing in the early morning hours. He knew that Vicky wasn't the kind a person that would just go off on her own. The next day, on May 30th, her body was recovered from Kihei Lagoon. She had been dumped off an embankment on Kliwa Street. There were signs that Vicky had been strangled. In addition, her hands were bound behind her back with a type of rope called parachute cord or paracord. She was barefoot, but still dressed in a yellow jumpsuit. She had been sexually assaulted before she was killed. Whoever killed Vicky likely didn't get away without a scratch. Gary, chief warrant officer in the 24th Aviation Battalion, later described to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, an incident when he and Vicky had a disagreement in their relationship saying Vicky knocked the expletive out of me. It seemed like Vicky had been targeted by more than one suspect, or perhaps knew her killer because she was described as streetwise. It wouldn't trust just anyone, especially late at night. So perhaps she was

overpowered by more than one person or let her guard down with someone she knew. Vicky and Gary had come to Hawaii. After Gary was stationed there, they'd only been there for 16 months when she was murdered, and the couple had been married just five years. News of Vicki's murder shocked area residents and made the rounds quickly amongst shop owners and local businesses. This was certainly not something that would be good news in the area, driven by tourism. But at the time, there was no reason to think this was anything other than

an isolated incident. There were no leads in the case, no witnesses, no evidence, and no sightings. Really no motive. As time passed, Vicky's husband, Gary, who was later transferred out of Hawaii, came to suspect that Vicki's murder was related to her place of work. This was apparently because on December 16, 1985, a little more than half a year after Vicki was killed, 39-year-old Terry Lee Fox, who managed an adult video store, and 56-year-old Carol Drake, who could, co-owned the adult bookstore next door were found dead in the back office of the video store. It turns out that Vicki Purdy worked at that same video store when she was killed. The video store office was locked and employees had to break the door down to get inside.

Drake had been stabbed in the heart from behind and Fox's throat had been slit. Cash receipts from that day were missing from the store. An envelope with an undisclosed amount of money inside was on the floor, leading many to believe that this was a robbery gone terribly wrong. Both women were still fully clothed, and there were no signs of sexual assault. Most recent sources have this murder happening the year before Vicky was killed, but all of the newspaper articles we could find from back in the 1980s

listed this double murder as happening after Vicky was killed. If Vicki's murder was related to the video store, There were seven months in between the attacks. So authorities were looking for disgruntled former employees or someone who was holding a grudge with employees of the store for questioning. So I think police have to consider that this double murder could be connected. I mean, what are the chances that Vicky is killed and then two people at her place of employment

are also murdered? I mean, that can certainly happen, but the odds seem low that it would happen to two other people that work with her. So I don't know how far the police were able to get with this lead and if they were able to tie anything specifically to Vicki's case, but they certainly tried to look into it. And I'm struggling a little bit with the robbery gone wrong theory. Now, I get it, the cash receipts from that day were missing, and that was probably the chunk of the money. But, you know, when you talk about an envelope with an undisclosed amount of cash inside that was just left on the floor, you have to ask the question, why? Was there something that, you know, scared the perpetrator or perpetrators off and they just missed it? Or was the money grab more of a cover?

You know, people will think it's a robbery gone wrong when in fact, they could. have taken more than what they did. I guess it's a question that I always have. I think we've covered enough cases where maybe someone planned out a crime and it didn't go as they expected and they make a mistake. Maybe this person dropped the money, worried about getting out and not getting caught if it was a robbery. But then again, to your point, if it wasn't really a robbery and this is just sort of camouflage, then maybe that's an important clue. Yeah. And I think it's important in these types of cases. to dissect those things because it could mean nothing, it could mean everything.

You know, we just don't know here. On January 14, 1986, 17-year-old Regina Sakamoto was running late. She had missed the school bus that would take her from Wai Pahoo to Lili Hua High School in Iowa and would have to catch the city bus at a later time. At 7.15 a.m., she called her boyfriend to inform him that she would be showing up late to class. but she never made it to school. This was out of character for the good student who was planning to attend Hawaii Pacific University that year.

According to front page detectives.com, her brother Omar described Regina as very bookish and smart. When Regina didn't return a home from school, her parents began to worry and went out to search for her. She had been seen by witnesses in the phone booth at the bus stop. But after that, there had been no sign of her. The next day, Regina's body was found floating in, in Kihei Lagoon, where Vicki Purdy had been found.

Their bodies were less than a mile apart. Her body was just feet away from an access road near the shore. One end of an extension cord was tied around Regina's foot. The other end, tied to heavy rocks on the shore. It was as if her killer had wanted to make sure she was found. Also, like Vicky, Regina's hands were tied behind her back with a section of paracord. The knot was nearly identical to the knot used to bind Vicki's hands. Regina was nude from the waist down, but was still clothed in a blue short-sleeved

t-shirt under a long-sleeved white t-shirt that said Hawaiian Island creation on the sleeves. She was also still wearing a watch and a pair of pearl earrings. Regina had been sexually assaulted, and her official cause of death was strangulation. Investigators had just one clue to work from. The suspect may have had a vasectomy. The autopsy had revealed a high level of acid phosphatates found in semen, but very few sperm. This was something common in sperm. So obviously more of here, we're talking about the 1980s.

And, you know, 1986. We know DNA was known about. But it was in its infancy. When did it come about? 1985, I think, was the first year. It was actually used in a case, if I remember correctly. Yeah, I think it's clear things back then that they had to go on were not nearly as advanced as they are now. I remember talking about Joseph DiAngelo when we were covering the Easterer rapist.

The only thing they could tell about him based on his semen was that he was a non-secreter. They couldn't tell his blood type. from his semen. So things like blood type, whether they had a septomy, those were really the extent of what they could determine about some of the evidence they had to work with back then, and it seems like a real uphill battle when those are the only things you have to go on. Regina's stepfather was upset. He was quoted on front page detectives.com, saying that he thought she was putting herself on the line by living down there with her Caucasian features, saying they just don't mix.

He believed it was her looks that brought her attention from the suspect, saying, I firmly believed she stood out because she was Caucasian. Whatever the reason Regina was targeted, police were dealing with two similar murders of young women in the area. Authorities were perplexed by the rise of murders in general in the area, 11 and two months, including Regina's. Lieutenant Merwin Lyons told the Honolulu Star Bulletin, we've never had any November and December like this.

I have no answer for you. Medical examiner Dr. Alvin Amori noted that the latest murder victims were mostly female, which was odd for the area. He added, usually homicide victims are men in a ratio of three or four to one. And he went on to say that the ratio has been totally reversed in the last couple of months. Violent crime analyst Brandon Stone expressed his doubts that any of the murders were related, telling the Star Bulletin, it's not a serial. I don't think there's any correlation between the homicides. only Regine and Vicky had been strangled. The other murders involved bludgeoning, shooting, and stabbings.

And I'll be honest with you more if I struggled with this, you know, this Brandon Stone expressing doubts that any of the murders were related. Now, he's saying to the paper, it's not a serial killer. And that may be true or that may have been true at the time depending on what the definition of serial killer was back then. We know it's changed over the years and different agencies actually have different definitions of serial. But to say that he doesn't think any of the murders are connected.

And I think that's the part that I struggled with. I could see where, you know, other murders that involve bludgeoning, shooting, and stabbing would not look to as though they were related. but how could you discount Regina and Vicki's murders as not possibly being related? I mean, we had the strangulation, we had the paracord, we had the sexual assault. There seemed to be a lot of similarities between those two murders. And obviously we're not trained experts or analysts, so we don't know everything that they look for. But, you know, I think we've covered enough cases.

that things jump out to us that seem to link things. It's hard to ignore that. And for whatever reason, Brandon Stone just didn't think that was strong enough to link these cases. While analysts Brandon Stone didn't think any of the murders were connected, investigators did note a similarity between Regina's murder and the murder of Vicki Purdy, but as noted in the Honolulu Star, they tended to dismiss the possibility that the two,

cases were connected. Looking through police blotters and articles from the time, there were many sexual assaults and kidnappings of young girls. And many different suspects are named in these articles, some going on to be convicted. You can see how authorities would keep an open mind here and investigate the cases as separate sexual assaults and murder cases, despite the similarities, but at the same time, dismissing a possible link between the two cases may have been a big mistake. On February 1st, 1986, the body of 21-year-old Denise Hughes was recovered from Mona Lewis Stream in Mapuna-Puna. On an identification was confirmed via dental records. Her body had started to decompose, but it was clear that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.

Her hands were bound with paracord. She was still wearing a blue dress. Her husband, who was in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor, hadn't seen her since the previous evening at dinner aboard his ship. After leaving the ship at around 10 p.m., she drove home and called her husband around 11 to confirm that she was home and safe. The two lived in Pearl City, and she would take the bus to work each day. It's believed that after she made it home safely on January 29th, after dinner, the rest of the night was uneventful. But then in the morning, on the 30th, she arrived at the bus stop earlier than she. normally did, giving her killer time to spot and abduct her before the bus showed up. Denise had

officially been missing since January 30th when she failed to arrive at work, where she was the secretary of telephone company. Her boss called her husband, setting off the alarm. And I do want to take a minute more of just to talk about, you know, these three cases that we've mentioned so far. In every one of them, you have individuals in these people's lives who, you have individuals in these people's lives who know their patterns, know what, you know, they normally do or would do in a situation. You know, when it came to Vicky, it was said that she could take care of herself. She was streetwise, street smart, and she wouldn't just say that she was going home, but then, you know, go somewhere else, right?

That's the thought that I got. Regina was just on her way to school. And here you have Denise Hughes. who is having dinner with her husband, leaves at 10, and calls him at 11 to confirm that she's home and safe, and then just gets up the next morning as normal to take the bus to work. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it seems to me none of these individuals was out doing something that would really put them in harm's way. You know, they weren't involved in some type of activity that would increase the likelihood of danger.

And had any one of these three or all three of them been transient maybe or not had regular routines or work or school, they may have been missed for longer than they were. And it may have been harder to piece together their timelines. But in each case, it was quickly determined that something it had had. happened to them. And that allowed police to be alerted to them being missing that much sooner. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency? We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators

to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Blood and Water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Police told the Honolulu Star Bolton that they had found at least a dozen similarities in the three homicides. Vickies, Regina's, and Denise's. All three of them were Caucasian. They were all from Central Oahu. Each of them had a link to the military. They were all found still partially clothed, and they had all been strangled. It was becoming clear that these murders were related. Asked by the Honolulu advertiser about the possibility of copycat killings, Major Chester Hughes said,

It's possible, but highly unlikely, because he would have to be very familiar with the scenes of the cases. In the minds of police, there was a serial killer in Honolulu. In fact, this would be the first serial killer identified in the state. When word got out that police were seeking a serial killer in Honolulu, the first since the term had been coined. One unnamed local source told the Honolulu advertiser, Hawaii lags behind the mainland. So we knew the weird stuff was on the way. On February 5, 1986, a 27-person serial killer task force was formed.

Over the course of the investigation, personnel from the FBI and the Green River Killer Task Force. were consulted. The task force created a profile of the killer. According to the profile, the killer was a man and was likely Caucasian in his 30s or 40s. He likely lived or worked in the area of Waipahu or Sand Island, and would be driving a cargo van or large vehicle. No criminal record would exist for this suspect, and he likely had no connection to his victims. The girls and women he selected for his sadistic urges were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to front page of Detectives.com, Honolulu Police Chief Douglas Gibb, speaking of the killer, said he's an individual who may be, at this particular juncture, experiencing girlfriend

or marital problems, and the selection of victims is probably the result of opportunity or chance encounters. Police Major Chester Hughes was skeptical, though, saying, to say that I'm looking at a profile of possibly a cosmopolitan individual, probably in his 40s, probably had a bad boyhood, probably had a divorce, etc. Would be nice for the paper, but it would not be advantageous to my investigation. And Morph, one of the things that I like to do in cases is break down a profile.

You know, I do think they're fascinating. Sometimes I think they're simple. They make sense. You know, they're saying that this is a man probably in his 30s or 40s, Caucasian, likely lives and works in the area and would be driving a larger vehicle. Now, why is that?

First of all, a lot of the profiles that you read are Caucasian males 2030s, 40s, right? That's very ubiquitous in serial killer profiles. And it would make sense that he lived in or around these areas. And the driving of a larger vehicle to me makes sense because, because, you know, if you're abducting someone, do you need a vehicle that makes it easier to conceal them when you're transporting them to another location? And my thought is, it's not absolutely necessary, but it would make it easier for this killer. And I think profiles are just a tool. They're based on data that's been collected and educated guests, and they're not always right.

know, some profiles can be spot on, some can be way off or some mix in between. I remember the DC sniper case, for example, they had a profile of who they thought the killer was, and they had a tip early on about two African-American males, and that tip was shifted and buried way down at the bottom of Leeds because they were locked in on it being a single Caucasian offender. and in that case it turned up that they were wrong and that wasted a lot of time. So, you know, I think it's good to use these as just one of the tools. I can certainly see why Major Hughes didn't want to just go with that as this person has to fit all these parameters. He kept his mind open to all suspects.

Yeah, and I wasn't exactly sure what he was saying in that quote. Was it that he didn't want to. want to get locked in? Or was he saying that there are so many people who would fit this profile that it's not going to help me all that much? I wasn't really sure. A citywide effort was made to equip all buses with two-way radio so that drivers could contact authorities if they saw anything suspicious of the two-way radio plan. Erwin Pashall, the director of the bus operations, told the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Right now, the only way a driver can report an incident is to stop, get to a telephone booth, or flag down an officer. It was a good plan and outside the box thinking,

but sadly, the plan didn't prevent another woman from being killed. On April 2nd, 1986, the body of 25-year-old Luis Maderos was found by road workers in tall grass at a freeway underpass near Waikali stream. This location was 12 miles from the area where Denise's body had been found. Investigators believed that her killer threw her body off of the H-1 freeway, where it fell 95 feet before landing in the gulch below. Although she lived in Waipahu, Louise had been in Kauai to see her family after the death of her mother.

Louise, who was three months pregnant, had been in town for the reading of her mother's will. On March 26th, she had taken a late-night flight back to Oahu, where she planned to take the bus back to Waipahu. There had been no trace of her since she stepped off the plane, but she had not been reported missing. Her body was too badly decomposed to determine whether or not she had been sexually assaulted, but her hands were tied behind her back with parochord like the other three victims. She was still wearing the red and white blouse that she was seen by witnesses wearing on the flight. So we have another victim.

And, you know, obviously all of these cases are horrible. What happened to these women was horrible. One of the things that continued to jump out of me during the research was this use of paracord. You know, to me, pericord kind of screams out military. Now, today, pericord is kind of ubiquitous. You see it all over the place. People use it to make paracord bracelets and you can buy paracord bracelets.

But I don't know in 1986 how prevalent it was to the mainstream public. Yeah, and it seems like that would have been a major clue for investigators to try and maybe track down the manufacturer, the brand, the stores where that particular paracor, cord may have been purchased from, but we didn't see any of that in the research. So it doesn't mean it wasn't done by investigators. Maybe they didn't make it public. But it definitely seems like that would have been an avenue of investigation that would have been worth pursuing. Yeah, I mean, today you can buy pericord on Amazon. You could go to any hobby shop and probably find it. But I'm not sure that was the same in 1986. So to me, more if your line of thinking about The paracord may be being a huge piece of evidence, I think is true.

Authorities warned local women to be careful when using public transportation, as that seemed to be a common threat. In most of the murders, police major Chester Hughes told commuters to follow normal safety precautions and not to put oneself in compromising situations. Most importantly, he warned them to definitely not be getting into. into somebody's vehicle because you're late and you want to get to your destination faster. He explained his reasoning here saying, we haven't had anything to indicate. These people were dragged off the street.

It seems like the assumption here is that someone likely a normal looking smooth talker pulled up in a vehicle and offered the women a ride, knowing they had a long wait if they didn't accept. Major Hughes was careful, though, with his work. here adding, we hate to say these women didn't practice common sense. I don't want to ever say that. The lack of defensive injuries on the victims seemed to indicate that they did willingly go with the suspect or that the suspect had threatened them into submission,

maybe with a gun. And obviously, he is trying to be very careful with the words that, you know, he uses, which I think is good. you don't want to make these victims out as though, you know, they had no common sense. They did something wrong, you know, anything like that. But I think you do have to look at the absence of defensive injuries and try to figure out what that mean. It could mean that they went willingly and were surprised.

Or as he said, it could be that they had no chance. chance to fight back because the perpetrator had a gun trained on them very quickly on. Yeah, I go to the old Henry Lee Lucas, oddest tool example, because, you know, if a woman has someone pull up and offer a ride and it's oddest tool and Henry Lee Lucas, she's probably saying, no, thank you. So to me, that indicates this is probably someone who looks normal, not scary, someone that maybe she can trust. And in these cases,

they got into the car with someone that fit that description and didn't stand out as somebody that looked dangerous or scary. Yeah, I was kind of thinking maybe Ted Bundy like here, right? The same way that Ted Bundy was able to disarm some of his victims, he looked like the guy next door. He didn't look like the boogeyman that he, he truly was. As a result of a public warning, women living in Oahu did alter their habits to try and avoid running into the suspect. Twenty-two-year-old waitress Jenny Marquis told the Honolulu Star Bulletin,

I hardly take the bus anymore. And 24-year-old, Lori Nicholas, said she only stays away from home until the sun goes down, while 29-year-old Gladys Lee told the paper, it's made me paranoid. Some women did even more than try to be home before dark and stopped accepting rides, unless they were from people they knew. 24-year-old Lisa Long made it clear that she was going to buy a barretta, feeling that a handgun would keep her safe. To address public fears and answer concerns, a meeting took place at Wipahu Library.

Officer Christine Gaylord spoke to over 75 people, mostly women, saying don't take the chance. Victims are people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police wanted to catch the killer stalking his next victim, and a sting operation was set up at Honolulu International Airport. Since Louise had arrived at the airport and it was near the locations where Vicki, Denise, and Regina had been found, authorities felt it was possibly a location that the suspect would frequent. Even the viaduct that Linda's car had been found parked next to led right to the airport.

Undercover female officers were sent to the airport and to Kihei Lagoon. to move about and see if any potential suspects approach them. But no one behaved suspiciously and they didn't nab the killer. Unknown to police, he was looking for a victim elsewhere. And I get it, this operation didn't nab the killer, but these are the types of things that you like to see. They're making a plan. They're being proactive.

And it does make some sense. Could it have been that the killer was possibly using the airport, I don't want to say as a base of operations, but could you see Morp a predator cruising around the airport terminal looking for potential victims coming out alone, knowing that they're going to have to go to their car and then maybe following them from there? That's a scary thought, but it's possible. Yeah, it could also indicate that maybe he works at the airport or is it cab driver, something brings him there frequently, so he hangs around that area. And, you know, to your point, I think the police were doing what they could. They weren't just sitting back and waiting for something to happen. They were going out there and trying to catch this person, you know, even going back to the bus,

the two-way radios on the bus that we talked about. They were putting things in motion to try and stop the person. this guy. Unfortunately, they just didn't work. Well, let's be honest, law enforcement, anywhere in the country does not want to have a serial killer in their area. But I think you almost have to double down when you're talking about a place like Honolulu. Because where does the bulk of the money in the area come from? And I would say a lot of it is tourism. Well, when you're thinking about your next day, destination. Are you going to go to a place that has an active known serial killer? And my answer is

no. So there had to have been extra pressure. Not that there's not always a ton of pressure to capture serial killers to stop them, but maybe even more so here. On April 29th, 36-year-old Linda Pesci left for work. Linda had a seven-year-old daughter and was married, but separated from her husband at the time. She lived with a friend of hers who knew that she would be home late that day due to a meeting she had scheduled in Kaka Ako. Though she left work around 6.30 p.m., she didn't come home. The next morning, she didn't show up at work at McCall Telepage, and someone told her roommate that her late blue 1976 Toyota

was parked next to the Nimitz H1 Viaduct. It was unlocked. Linda was immediately reported missing by her roommate. A roadblock was set up in the area. Linda's car was reparted by investigators hoping to use it as a visual aid. Officers would talk to the local commuters and try to jog their memories showing passers-by. Linda's photo, they asked people, do you remember seeing a woman looking like the one in this picture asking for help or ride or anything like that in this vicinity? A few witnesses did remember seeing Linda's car around 7.30 p.m.

on the side of the road with its hazard lights flashing. But it wasn't alone. A white or light colored van was also parked there, and a white or mixed-race man with light skin was seen standing nearby. The location that Linda's car was parked was about a 15-minute drive from her office. Investigators were pleased with the tips they got from witnesses from the roadblock. It was perhaps the best clue they had. Lieutenant Luis Sousa, head of the task force, told the Honolulu advertiser.

It did what we wanted it to do, narrowing the time the car was there to about 45 minutes, but unfortunately, there was no way to tell whether Linda was still alive at 730 or whether she had already been harmed. Suza added, lots of people saw her car, but they couldn't tell if she was in it sitting there, A sketch of the light-colored American-make van was released to the media in hopes that someone would remember something about the driver. Of all the victims, Vicky Purdy, the first known victim, had the most injuries on her body. In addition to ligature marks on her neck, there were fingernail marks and bruising on her neck, indicating her hands were free when she was being murdered, and she fought back vigorously,

trying to pull the ligature away from her neck. just like our husband Gary said she would. It's believed that after her murder, the suspect began to bind the woman before strangling them to prevent this struggle. This also meant less evidence like fingernail scrappings. And this jumped out at me more. I had a thought that ran through my mind, which was Vicky was the first known victim.

Doesn't mean she was the first victim, but she could have possibly been the first victim of this serial killer because it's it's almost like he learned from that attack. It didn't go as smoothly as maybe he wanted it to. So the next time and the times after, he began binding the women before strangling them to prevent what happened with Vicki Purdy. And I think we've seen with a lot of serial killers

that they learn from mistakes, things that cause them to maybe almost get, caught or things they can improve on to ensure they get away with their crimes, they make those changes. And that could be what's going on here in this case for sure. And I think it's only natural for people to try to improve at anything they do. It sounds horrible to say it in the context of a serial killer, but we know it happens. One of the biggest issues is what you just touched on. By getting better at doing what they're doing. It means less evidence, decreased chances that they're going to make a mistake that will lead

the police to them. Essentially, they're getting better at what they're doing. I think if you're the police, you want the opposite. You want them to keep doing the exact same thing they've been doing all along, hoping they slip up and leave something that will help you catch them and not make changes, not adapt to be better at what? they're doing to get away with it. So a real conflict between what the killer's doing and what the police probably are hoping that he does. Not that the police want the killer to continue killing,

but they want him to continue if he's going to kill to not make changes so they can have a better chance of catching him. Yeah, I get that, definitely. Fresh air, longer days, a chance to reset. This season let therapy be part of your spring cleaning. Clearing mental clutter, shaking off stuckness, and building something better, growth, therapy helps you get there. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 15th, Grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty,

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Growtherapy.com slash book now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Authorities were contacted by a man named Howard Gay, claiming to know the location of Linda Pesci's remains. He said that a psychic had told him she was on Sand Island and gave a more precise location. On May 3rd, investigators searched the immediate area that gay took them to and found nothing. Instead of giving up, officers kept searching the whole island focusing on one area that gay seemed to have actively avoided while leading them to the location supposedly given to him by a psychic. At around 3 p.m. off a dirt road, they found the same. the body of Linda Pesci, just 150 yards from the shoreline. Her hands were tied behind her back

with paracord, but unlike all of the other victims, she wasn't wearing any clothing at all. According to Lieutenant Sousa, it looked like the assailant tried to conceal the body with grass and dirt. A concrete block was placed on her back. Like in Regina's case, an autopsy revealed a high level of acid phosphatase and a very low level of sperm from her killer. Police were suspicious of 43-year-old Howard Gay. They thought he was more than someone just relaying a tip that a psychic supposedly had passed on to him. And on May 9, 1986, he was arrested in connection with Linda Pesci's murder. Police were suspicious that he had inserted himself into the investigation and that he had known the general whereabouts of her remains. They didn't

buy any of his story about the psychic. He also fit the FBI profile as a white man in his early 40s. And on top of all this, there was more, although it was still circumstantial. Investigators had found his name and phone number written down on Linda Pesci's notepad at McCall Telepage, where she worked. He also happened to drive a cream-colored van for work, a van much like the one's witnesses saw Park behind Linda's car when its hazard lights were flashing. In addition, he also lived in Yua Beach, About four miles from the area where Louis Maderas was found, which was along the route to Honolulu International Airport. Though Howard Gay was married and had a wife in California,

he also had a girlfriend in Hawaii. The two had a rocky relationship full of arguments. Detectives interviewed her, and she told investigators that some nights when they fought, he would leave the house. What really stood out was that the murders all occurred on a night that she could remember him storming out of the house. Gay was questioned for about 10 hours before he was released from custody.

He had been taken in for an interview just before 5 a.m. and left the station a free man just after 2 p.m. Multiple news cameras followed him as he walked with a shirt pulled up to hide his face. Despite failing two polygraph examinations, there was not enough evidence for authorities to hold him at the time. Gay gave a statement to the puzzled press saying, The police have released me. That's all I know. Almost as if taunting the investigators, he added,

they have plenty of good cause. They're doing their job. His attorney, Judith Pavey, who was alongside him, said, they didn't have enough evidence to hold him. We hope they just leave him alone. So I think it's easy to see more if why police would be very interested in Howard Gett.

You know, we've talked about it before, but any time a person inserts themselves into an investigation, like gay did, they're going to be looked at suspiciously. And on top of that, the fact that he failed two polygraph examinations, no matter what you think of polygraphs, doesn't look good. But at the end of the day, right, they didn't have enough evidence to hold him or charge him. I thought his statement was very strange when he said they have plenty of good cause. If you're someone that the police is looking at, why would you say that to the press? They have plenty of good cause. Yeah, for it as me, I'd be shot on my innocence and saying they have no cause to be looking at me. I didn't do this, that kind of thing.

You know, obviously none of us really knows what we'll say until we're in that situation, but that's what I like to think that I would say. but him inserting himself into this case with this psychic story. One thing I didn't see was whether police located this so-called psychic to verify that they were the person that told him about this and that this wasn't some made-up psychic. That's not clear. But what really stands out to me is that he's got a tan van like the one seen behind Linda, behind Linda's car on the night she went missing. and he also peered in her notepad, his phone number and name at Linda's place of work. So to me, that's pretty compelling.

Well, and then I think you have to also look at these statements made by his girlfriend, right? They fought. And when they fought, he would storm out of the house. And she's kind of putting these nights where he stormed out as nights that when, Women went missing. Okay, doesn't look great for Howard Gay. You'd have to say that. But even though, you know, I make that statement, is any of that enough to really charge someone?

And you could say it's all kind of circumstantial. I could see why they had to let him go. When asked by the press why the only suspect in the series of murders was let go, Honolulu Police Department spokesman, West Young said, he was released pending investigation. The investigation is continuing. Authorities were sure they had the right person. They just needed more solid evidence to be able to take the case to trial. One witness, a woman, picked Howard Gay's photo out of a lineup and said that she saw him with Linda the night she disappeared. But reportedly this witness was too afraid of retaliation to agree to cooperate with the investigation any further or to testify against Gay in court.

Well, I can understand why this woman would be afraid. I mean, if you believe that this man is a serial killer who has murdered already a number of women, is it going to be that easy to agree to testify against him in court, put yourself out there? And that's a decision that every person has to make. It's hard for me to look down on anyone, even though you would love to think that. think that everyone, you know, wants to put the bad guy in jail, people got to think about their own safety as well. What happens if this guy is acquitted? Is he going to then come after me? Maybe she was worried that if he's the guy and she's the one that can identify him, wouldn't there be an

incentive for him to try and get rid of her so she can't testify? So, I've never been in a position to have testify against somebody at trial in this kind of situation. but it seems like it would be a very frightening thing to do. Yeah, absolutely. Soon after being released after his police interview, Gay traveled back to California, where he had lived until 1980 when he moved to Hawaii, where he worked as an aircraft mechanic for the cargo company Flying Tigers. His 17-year-old son, Jason, was set to graduate high school in June of 1986.

Gay was a United States military veteran. He had been honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1965. Three years later, he met his wife. Sadly, on June 21st, just three days. After he graduated, Jason stopped to help a stranded motorist, and while changing a tire on the side of the road, he was hit by a passing car and killed. As a result, Howard Gay was also sent to the hospital with a suspected heart attack.

After this tragedy, Gay found a new fate and became, made born again Christian. By July 1986, authorities had handed their files over to city prosecutors. Half of the members of the task force were reassigned. Lieutenant Sousa, for example, was moved to a property theft prevention detail. No charges would ever be filed against Howard Gay or anyone else for the strangler murders. On November 2, 2003, 60-year-old Howard Andrew Gay passed away. He had been sick a long time was being treated for kidney failure at Centinella Hospital in Inglewood, California, when he passed away. He had lived in Apple Valley for the last 15 years before his death. His ex-wife and son, his only living child, both still live there.

Gaye's ex-wife recalls trying to surprise him by visiting him in Hawaii when she and their boys still lived in California. She showed up with her sons, but he wasn't happy to see them. he was angry and wouldn't let them into his home. Instead, he insisted that they stay at a hotel. He put them all on a plane back to California just two days later. Another important detail she was able to divulge to police was that Howard Gay had indeed had a vasectomy. His semen would have had a high level of acid phosphatase and a very low level of sperm,

just like the samples found during the Honolulu strangling. investigation. While most investigators felt that Howard Gay was their man, one less compelling suspect is William J. Stevens III. Stevens, who was called a viable suspect in the Green River killings, lived in Hawaii before moving to Seattle, Washington. When his home was searched in 1989, military uniforms and fake police uniforms were found. Authorities wondered if he had used these uniforms to abduct the five victims of the Honolulu Strangler without them putting their guard up. This is how a woman named Lisa Al is believed to have been lured out of her car. On January 20th, 1982, 19-year-old Lisa finished her shift at Susan Beer Salon and

Kailua. As she left, she told her coworkers that she was headed to Makiki to see her boyfriend Doug Holmes at his sister's apartment. Soon after leaving work and heading out into the rainy night, she stopped and bought dinner for them to share. After eating with Doug, She set off for her home in Cayalua. The next morning, Doug got a call from her parents. She had never made it home. He went looking for her, but only found her car, a 1976 Toyota abandoned on the shoulder of the highway.

The driver's side window was rolled down almost halfway, and it was clear it had been open for some time. There was almost three inches of water on the floor of the car. The driver's seat was completely soaked and drenched, but, Lisa's purse, which was sitting on the seat, was dry. Her temporary driver's license wasn't inside the car or purse. Her nude body was found 11 days later on January 31st in a ravine off Tantalus drive. Many people believe that a police officer or someone impersonating one pulled Lisa over,

explaining the roll-down window in the missing license. The first thing many officers do is ask you for your license and registration. However, Lisa's purse was dry, unlike the rest of her car, and there are questions about whether it was put there much later, after the rain had stopped. A police officer was suspected and actually presented to a grand jury, but there was no indictment. The name of this officer is unknown, but it said that he resigned and left Hawaii shortly after the grand jury. It turns out that Lisa's license had been left behind when she signed a check to pay for dinner on her way to her boyfriend's sister's apartment. So that went against the police officer theory. So maybe it wasn't a police officer.

But it doesn't mean that someone didn't impersonate one that night. 40-year-old William Stevens III, who had fake police uniforms in his closet, died of pancreatic cancer in 1991. There's nothing officially linking him to Lisa's case. And her case isn't officially connected to the Strangler murders. Well, I will say this. It seems to me to be very strange to have a bunch of fake police uniforms in your closet. Now, does it mean you're absolutely up to no good? No, it doesn't, but it doesn't look

great. And when we talk about, you know, some of these incidents in various cases where it seems as though victims were maybe taken by surprise or it's thought that they let their guard down for whatever reason, you could definitely make a case that if they'd, if they'd, you could make a case that if they thought they were being pulled over by a police officer. You're going to roll your window down, maybe open the door or something like that. You're going to comply with the commands of a police officer. And if it's not a real one, that person could use that to their advantage in abducting you. That's a very scary thought. And someone posing as a police officer could explain why some of the women who were murdered in this episode that we talked about seemed to have not been, as one of the police officers said,

yanked off the street. So it could explain why they went without a fight. And of course, they could have been being held at gunpoint too, and they would have cooperated that way as well. Authorities have always seemed to think that they had their suspect. It's notable to some that while the murders of Terry Fox and Carol Drey, the two women killed in the adult bookstore, are on the Honolulu Police Department Cold Cases website, none of the five victims of the Honolulu Strangler are listed there. Still with no one ever charged, the case is technically open. Also of interest is that there has never been another serial killer identified as being active in the state of Hawaii. One thing that may help solve this case once and for all is DNA. And while police didn't know

about DNA, really in the 1980s when these murders happened, they presumably did collect, save, and store evidence from these murders. Perhaps that evidence should be reexamined using the latest technology to see if DNA from the killer can be recovered and matched to a suspect. Now, it's absolutely possible that the perpetrator in these murders is now dead. And that would definitely be the case if it turned out that, you know, Howard Gay was involved. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't use DNA to identify the killer, whether he's alive or not. Yeah.

And I think it's important for the families of the victims. If they can give them answers in the name, it might give them some peace. And at least they can close out some cases if they can link DNA to a suspect. So I think it's worth trying. Oh, I do too. I absolutely do. I did think it was strange that none of the Honolulu strangler victims were listed on the cold case website. Is that because police are certain that they know who did it, but there's nothing they can do about it?

I don't know what the real answer is. And hopefully if anyone out there listening by some chance does have information about this case, They'll do the right thing and call crime stoppers at 808, 955, 8300. So as we wrap this one up more, it is a sad but fascinating case. The number of women lost their lives. That's tragic. But the fascination comes in when you start to talk about, okay, who was this serial killer?

If it was a serial killer, we're thinking it was. to me, there are just too many similarity in these murders to think that they weren't committed by the same person. And I go back to this paracourt. We talked about a number of people, including gay, who was once in the military, would be familiar with paracourt. What does that mean? Yeah, there's a lot of interesting things that seem like they could be potential pieces of the

puzzle that could solve the case. One part that really interests me is this guy gay coming forward to begin with. You know, was he really just a well-meaning citizen that really had some information or what he thought was information? Or was he a killer that thought he was so smart he could just insert himself into the case and police wouldn't question him? You know, I think if he wasn't the killer, he probably regretted coming forward. And, you know, the scene could probably be true if he was because, you know, the police suspected him right away. So in any regard, I think him coming forward is probably something he regretted. Well, yeah, because it put him on the radar. He was not on the radar, right? Now, maybe he would have been at some point, but it was really, you know,

him coming forward that put him on police radar. And I don't completely understand. the fascination with killers, you know, inserting themselves into the investigation. I mean, I guess they get a thrill out of it. We've seen it happen time and time again over the years, but maybe it's just being that close, gives them a thrill. That has to be it. It's the only thing I can really think of. But, you know, at the end of the day, we don't know whether or not he was the Honolulu

Strangler. what I will say is that he's a very interesting suspect. You would have to say that at the very least. Yeah. And just all the more reason to try and retest the evidence and see if there's any DNA that can maybe rule him out once and for all or, you know, rule him in or any other suspect in it. You know, I think, you know, for the family's sake, they should at least try.

And I think that's the, probably the one avenue that would. solve this case is if they collected and stored the evidence and if it's still viable. You know, those are questions that we don't have answers to. But we know if that is true, then there's a lot they could do with that. But it also takes time and money and, and that's part of the problem that many jurisdictions have. But that's it for our episode on the Honolulu Strangler. If you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a five-star rating. You can leave a review also. Keep telling your friends.

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Take care, everyone.