Police seek leads in cold-case murder

Police are hoping the public can provide new information or leads related to an unsolved cold-case murder from two decades ago.

The body of 18-year-old Glenn Guerrero from 8 1/2 Mile Camp in Keaau was found at about 3:45 p.m. Aug. 12, 1996, on a grassy area just off a dirt road above the Shipman Park ballpark in Keaau.

Guerrero was shot in the head and an autopsy determined his death was a homicide.

According to police, witnesses reported that earlier in the day, Guerrero was in the passenger seat of a pickup leaving the ballpark. Detectives have been unable to identify the driver or locate the truck, which Lt. Greg Esteban of the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section described as “an older-model truck, beat-up, possibly a faded blue.”

“A couple of people that we’ve interviewed saw Glenn’s vehicle parked in the parking lot below the ballpark and saw the beat-up truck,” Esteban said Friday. “The truck reverses out of a stall and starts driving up a gravel road towards the old National Guard armory … and Glenn is seen as a passenger in the truck.

“We’re hoping that somebody can tell us who that driver was or where that truck may be.”

Police ask anyone with any information about this or other unsolved murders to contact Detective Derek Morimoto at 961-2380 or derek.morimoto@hawaiicounty.gov. Those who prefer anonymity can call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 and might be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

Esteban said despite scientific and technological advances in the intervening years, this case and others remain unsolved.

“There’s not a lot of information to go on in this particular case,” he said. “And we’re hoping that, in trying to get it out in the media again, somebody’s going to remember something and come forward and provide us some information. Time may pass, but families still struggle with the loss of their loved ones and we’re just hoping we can bring closure to the families of the victims.”

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