The Hawaii Police Department published a list of unsolved homicide cases from through the years in an effort to solicit information from the public that might lead to justice.
The list, posted to the department’s website at hawaiipolice.com/unsolved-homicides, currently lists five unsolved cases from between 1987 and 2003, including details of the victims and circumstances of their deaths.
Chief Paul Ferreira said the list was published in response to an ongoing program on television channel KHON2 that was also published online: “Hawaii’s Unsolved Murders,” which detailed several of the five cases posted to the HPD website.
“We figured, since it’s being posted on KHON, let’s capitalize on that,” Ferreira said.
Ferreira said additional unsolved cases will be added to the list periodically after the department writes up summaries for them.
“We have to be careful about the information we release in some of these cases,” said Lt. Rio Amon-Wilkins. “Some of these cases have no suspects, others have a strong person of interest.”
Amon-Wilkins said there are “well over 16” unsolved murders that eventually will be published, ranging as far back as 1945 to the early 2000s. All of those cases, he said, are still considered active, and detectives have revisited them recently.
“With so many scientific advances since then, and after KHON aired several of our cases, I think it’s good for us to get the word out,” Amon-Wilkins said.
The five cases currently listed include:
• Lynn Ebisuzaki, 26, who was found dead of a stab wound not far from a home in the 500 block of Kanoelehua Avenue in South Hilo that she was visiting on May 1, 1987.
• Glenn Guerrero, 18, who was last seen alive Aug. 12, 1996, in the passenger seat of a pickup truck driving around what are now called the Buddy Perry Soccer Fields in Keaau. Guerrero was found dead of a gunshot wound off a nearby dirt road later that day. Neither the pickup nor its driver were ever identified.
• Sean Burgado, 27, who was found dead in his Waiakea Uka home on May 21, 1997, after not showing up for work for several days. He was found to have died from multiple gunshot wounds.
• Matthew Peak, 22, who was found buried in the beach sand of Waipio Valley, where he lived, in an advanced state of decomposition on June 1, 1999. Cause of death was ruled as asphyxia.
• Bradley Bussewitz, 47, whose decomposed body was found Nov. 2, 2003, in a remote area off of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, also known as Saddle Road. Blunt-force injuries were determined to be the cause of death. Bussewitz was only positively identified in 2016 thanks to fingerprint database records.
Anyone with information about the cases can submit an anonymous tip at hawaiipolice.com/unsolved-homicides or by calling detective Derek Morimoto at 808-961-2380.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
