Villagers at Whitmore
cautious now

Two bodies found in the area
raise fear among residents

By Veronica Fajardo
Star-Bulletin

Jere Sanchez used to take her three children hiking through the pineapple field and gulches bordering the backyard of her Whitmore Village home.

Not anymore.

Sanchez, who has lived in the quiet community for eight years, said she was scared when she heard police found one of her neighbors dead last week near the cane haul road where her family used to hike. Another neighbor was found dead in some nearby bushes.

"I like to go exploring with my kids, but nowadays you can't 'cause you never know what you're going to find," she said.

Rescue workers went to the quiet neighborhood Tuesday to look for Jacques Ellefsen, 22, who had gone on a hunting trip Sept. 7. On Wednesday, they found the body of Virgelio P. Gonzales, who had been stabbed in the back and thrown into a stream bed. Gonzales' death is being investigated as a homicide.

The next day, searchers found Ellefsen's body. Police said he died from a single gunshot inflicted by the rifle he was carrying. His death has been classified as a suicide. "They found two bodies. Why stop looking? There may be more," Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the terrain in the area behind her home is full of ditches and steep drops where there are "lots of places to hide things."

But police don't patrol or comb through the areas where the bodies were found because the land is private property owned by Dole Plantation. The plantation has its own security guards to patrol the area.

Sanchez said she thinks Whitmore is still a place "where you don't have to lock up your car at night," but her neighbor across the street thinks otherwise.

"I thought Whitmore was safe and quiet; now I'm scared to go out at night," said Monica Tsuchiyama, Sanchez' neighbor.

Resident Ivan Nitta said Whitmore is a close community made up of young families with children. He said he was frightened by the recent deaths, but his real concern is for the children in the neighborhood.

"In the afternoon, the streets are full of kids. They're everywhere," he said.

Nitta said it's scary to think that bodies are being found in areas he used to drive through. "I'd go up there with my junk car and cruise around on the weekend. I'll definitely be more cautious, but what about the kids that go up there?"

Patti Siquig said from her back door she sees cars, trucks and motorcycles in the fields at all hours of the day and suggests either Dole or the police department start exploring the area more because "it's a good dumping ground. Who knows what else is back there?"

"Two bodies found in one week is enough," she said.

"There are a lot of steep drops back there. If either of the bodies had rolled into one of those ditches they would have never found them."