A former Kaneohe Marine arrived in Honolulu yesterday to face murder charges for the slaying of a 13-year-old Kailua girl 26 years ago. ’75 murder suspect
arrives for trialBy Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comDelmar Edmonds, 46, was booked at the Honolulu Police Central Receiving desk around 4 p.m.
He kept his gaze down as he was ushered into the station, and gave no response when met by media cameras and asked whether he had killed Dawn "Dede" Bustamante.
Edmonds had fought extradition to Honolulu since his arrest July 17 in Indianapolis on a grand jury bench warrant charging him with Bustamante's murder.
He denied any involvement in her death in 1975 and continues to do so.
He is expected to be held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center pending arraignment in Circuit Court as early as Monday.
"The (Bustamante) family has waited an extremely long time to have this matter resolved," Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader said. "We're anxious to get started."
Edmonds faces life with parole or 20 years in prison if convicted in the fatal shooting of Bustamante and the attempted murder of her friend Cherie Verdugo-McCoy.
The two girls were walking in Kailua early on March 14, 1975, when an unknown man ordered them at gunpoint into his car.
He allegedly drove them to a secluded area near the Pali Golf Course, raped Bustamante and shot her in the head as she later tried to flee. The other girl managed to escape.
Although Edmonds was identified as a suspect back then, police at the time said there was not enough evidence to charge him.
The girl who escaped picked Edmonds out of a police lineup but was unable to positively identify him or his car.
The case was revived two years ago after an investigator for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who was dating Bustamante's younger sister was asked to look into the case.
A break came when a Marine who had been stationed with Edmonds at Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station contacted CrimeStoppers unsolicited, saying he had information about a slaying more than 20 years ago.