Neither police nor prosecutors are identifying the suspect in the murder of a 5-month-old boy on New Year’s Eve 2022, but all publicly available evidence points to the mother, Yasmine Michelle Lilia Butterfield, who also is known as Lilia Alameda.
The death of the infant, Makia Alameda, originally was classified as a coroner’s inquest. It became a second-degree murder investigation after police received the final autopsy report in late 2023. The forensic pathologist ruled the baby died of asphyxia and the death was a homicide.
The boy also suffered acute blunt-force injuries, some of which were in the healing stages.
Police said earlier this month they forwarded their investigation to the office of county Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen for review and possible charges.
Shortly after 4 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2022, Puna patrol officers and Hawaii Fire Department medics responded to a report of an unresponsive 5-month-old boy.
Responders met Butterfield, then 21, and her then 20-year-old boyfriend — the baby’s father — on Highway 130 as they were en route to the Pahoa Fire Station for medical assistance.
The baby was taken by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:54 a.m.
The baby’s father, Sequoya Safadago, later reported to police that at about 11 a.m. that same day, he and Butterfield were embroiled in a domestic dispute in the couple’s Kalapana Gardens home. According to court documents filed by police, Safadago told officers Butterfield admitted to killing the infant, and told him she wouldn’t have done so if Safadago had a better job.
The man said he attempted to leave the house during the argument, but Butterfield allegedly struck him several times with a wooden block and a metal broomstick, threatened him with a knife, and refused to allow him to call for help or leave the residence.
The man declined medical attention after summoning police.
Butterfield, who has no prior felony convictions, admitted to police she struck Safadago with a block and broomstick and disconnected the house’s Wi-Fi so he couldn’t make phone calls, the documents state.
Butterfield is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, domestic abuse, first-degree terroristic threatening, unlawful imprisonment, and interfering with the report of an emergency for the alleged attack on Safadago. That case is still active in Hilo Circuit Court and Butterfield is undergoing “dual diagnoses” treatment at Po‘ailani Inc. in Kaneohe, Oahu, according to court records.
The second-degree assault, first-degree terroristic threatening and unlawful imprisonment charges are all Class C felonies that carry a potential prison sentence of five years.
Police Capt Rio Amon-Wilkins of the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division told the Tribune-Herald on Jan. 5, 2023, police suspected foul play in the baby’s death and were investigating.
Amon-Wilkins said at the time that Butterfield was “absolutely” a suspect in the infant’s death and the baby’s father isn’t a suspect.
Police said earlier this month that during the course of their investigation, East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Section detectives conducted numerous interviews with the child’s parents, as well as other witnesses, and performed many follow-ups. The crime scene was processed, and items of evidence were recovered.
Should a second-degree murder charge be filed, a conviction on the charge would result in a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.