State unravels case in love triangle murder

The state’s case against a 36-year-old East Honolulu man has been unfolding over the past few days with dramatic surveillance video showing the glow of a fire at his Wailupe home, a white pickup truck leaving his house and arriving near his wife’s ex-lover’s Waipahu office, as well as a return trip, and a hat that linked him to the crime scene.

On Thursday morning, Eric Thompson, on trial for murder in the shooting death of acupuncturist Jon Tokuhara, took a seat in the gallery of Circuit Judge Paul Wong’s courtroom, while a homeless man was brought in.

Key to the state’s case is DNA evidence found on the white bucket hat worn by a man who went in and out of Tokuhara’s clinic the evening of Jan. 12, 2022. That hat, as surveillance video showed, fell off the murder suspect’s head as he briskly walked across Waipahu Depot Street, and within 10 minutes the hat was picked up by a second man.

Vicente Tangonan, tracked down by police to a tent on Waipahu Street, gave police the bucket hat but tore up a subpoena to appear in court. The judge issued a bench warrant, and he was arrested and appeared in court Thursday.

The court found Tangonan was a material witness, and the court reconvened for trial. Tangonan was asked whether he picked up the hat.

“Yeah. I take’em home,” he said.

Lead detective Kaiminaauao Mead said hair, contrary to popular belief, is not a good contributor of DNA. Since only three strands were found on the hat, he would not order the hair to be tested unless there were 10 to 15 strands with follicle attached from five different parts of the head.

Deputy prosecutor Benjamin Rose said in his opening statement that Thompson walked into Tokuhara’s clinic Jan. 12, 2022, and within 48 seconds fired four shots from a.22-caliber gun into his face and head.

HPD evidence specialist Hideko Yoshihara said Wednesday she found multiple firearms and boxes of cartridges (ammunition) in a storage room in Thompson’s garage. She also swabbed Thompson’s cheek for a DNA sample, which could not be excluded from the DNA profile on the bucket hat, Rose had said.

Mead testified that a photo taken in the same area of the house showed gun cases and ammunition.

HPD evidence specialist Bridie Farley testified Wed ­nesday and Thursday. She recovered a large silver cooking pot in a wheelbarrow inside Thompson’s yard.

At the direction of defense counsel, she cut open an evidence bag revealing the metal pot blackened on the bottom and evidence of exposure to intense heat inside and out.

The state contends it was used to burn evidence.

Mead said video surveillance the night of the shooting taken from Thompson’s neighbor, who shares a driveway with him, revealed a large glow against trees at the front of his property appeared to be from a large fire, because of the way it grew, and not from a light.

Mead said Tokuhara’s last cellphone transmission at 6:15 p.m. is the last time he was positively confirmed alive.

He directed police officer William Oku III to create a timeline of surveillance videos.

Video surveillance showed that at about that time, a man attired in a white bucket hat, windbreaker, a backpack under the jacket, a face mask, sunglasses, long pants and shoes, holding a brown paper bag, crossed Waipahu Depot Street toward Toku ­hara’s clinic, then crossed back, within 48 seconds.

“It appeared very personal. Mr. Tokuhara was shot several times. It was very calculated and quick,” Mead said.

He said a bloody fingerprint on the entrance to an exam room 10 to 15 feet from the front entrance was likely from his mother, Lilly Tokuhara, who discovered the body 8 a.m. Jan. 13, 2022.

Mead said the scant evidence indicated that the shooting was done at close range with no signs of physical struggle. It “led me to believe the suspect did not touch Mr. Tokuhara and that it likely came from his mother.”

Mead said she likely touched her son, and simply forgot when she told police she didn’t touch anything because she was still “hysterically crying” when Mead arrived at the scene, “calling for him (Tokuhara) to come out.”

Mead also said that given the 48 seconds it took to fire four shots and exit the building, “he wouldn’t have risked touching Mr. Tokuhara and risk touching a door panel.”

Oku testified Wednesday that video surveillance from the game room at the old Arakawa store building did not show the suspect walk to or from there.

Police recovered surveillance footage from multiple cameras of area businesses and residences in Waipahu and near Thompson’s home at 4901 Kalanianaole Highway.

They were used to show where the murder suspect walked and where a white truck that appeared to match Thompson’s 2014 white Chevy Silverado in the videos traveled all lined up.

Mead had consulted a Servco Chevrolet salesman who identified the make, model and approximate year of the truck. The checks were done of all registered owners in the state using HPD’s in-house database and a national one, narrowing it down to 53.

Thompson’s truck was seen leaving his house at 5:22 p.m., and a suspect vehicle was first spotted at 5:57 p.m. in Waipahu.

Mead said that the truck left the area at 6 :23 p.m., and Thompson arrived home 6:48 p.m. Mead said Thompson could have made it in 24 minutes because he has driven that route.

Darryl Fujita, the ex-boyfriend of Tokuhara’s girlfriend, was initially a person of interest since their relationships overlapped.

Mead said Fujita was cooperative and gave an interview Jan. 15, 2022, but, due to time constraints, did not leave his phone at that time, and provided his phone for data download Feb. 24, 2022. He offered his DNA sample freely when requested.

Joyce Thompson, identified as the Instagram user “Little SqueezeMe,” who had 5, 610 shared messages with Tokuhara, was spoken to by police but never provided a statement. She was ruled out as a person of interest because she did not match the male in the surveillance footage, Mead said.

What initially gave Mead pause regarding Eric Thompson was the seven months that elapsed from learning about his wife’s infidelity in July 2021 to Jan. 12 slaying.

Although he had motive, police needed physical evidence, which they found.