Hawaii Police have identified a homicide victim who was found buried in a shallow grave in a Puna subdivision last month.
On Jan. 5, police were called to Road 16 in the Aloha Estates subdivision of Puna after receiving a report that residents had located buried human remains. A subsequent investigation of the remains determined that they had been buried for about two weeks, and that they were the remains of a man who had died of a gunshot wound to the torso, a manner of death that was ruled homicide.
Today, police announced that the victim has been identified as 34-year-old Andrew Cawley.
The body was reportedly in an advanced state of decomposition, so identification was made by a comparison of dental records.
Police are investigating the investigation as a second-degree murder. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the police department’s non-emergency number at (808) 935-3311, Detective Jeremy Kubojiri at (808) 961-2378 or Lieutenant Rio Amon-Wilkins at (808) 961-2252.