Although she has waited 26 years to see the person responsible for her older sister's murder brought to justice, Sheri McArthur is not eager to see the man charged with the crime. Slain girl’s sister is not
yet ready to see suspectBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com"Hopefully, I won't see him until the trial. I don't think I could talk," McArthur said.
Delmar J. Edmonds was extradited to Honolulu from Indianapolis Thursday to stand trial for the 1975 murder of 13-year-old Dawn "Dede" Bustamante.
Edmonds, 46, is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $500,000 bail. He is expected to be arraigned Monday.
McArthur does not plan to be there. She was aware of Edmonds' arrival Thursday afternoon, and her younger sister encouraged her to see him at the airport.
"My sister called: 'Sheri, go to the airport,'" McArthur said.
But because of airport security measures, McArthur did not think she would have been able to see Edmonds anyway.
Bustamante and another girl were abducted by a lone male in a car in Kailua on March 14, 1975. They were taken to the Pali Golf Course, where Bustamante was raped and fatally shot. The other girl escaped.
Edmonds, who was a Marine stationed in Kaneohe at the time, was questioned twice by police but not arrested.
Based on interviews conducted last year and this year with other Marines who were stationed at Kaneohe in 1975, Honolulu police and Naval Investigative Service investigators obtained a warrant for Edmonds' arrest.
They knocked on the door of his Indianapolis home on July 17.
"He looked a little surprised, but he agreed to come with us to be questioned," said Anderson Hee, Honolulu police detective.
Edmonds was arrested after being questioned and has been in custody ever since.