Murder victim
was police
informant

Officers say that they do not know
whether there is a connection

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

A January murder victim was a police informant who was dropped from the witness protection program because he violated terms of his agreement, Honolulu police said yesterday.

But HPD homicide Lt. Bill Kato would not say whether Edward Fuller's role as an informant was a motive in his murder.

Fuller, 40, was found unconscious in the middle of the roadway on Jack Lane in Nuuanu on Jan. 26. He had multiple gunshot wounds including one in the back and two in the back of the head. He later died at the hospital.

Fuller had assisted police with several cases and was sent to the mainland under the witness protection program, Kato said.

Fuller was dropped from the program when he chose to return to Hawaii, he said.

"We told him, 'You're on your own,'" Kato said.

According to court documents, when Fuller was arrested last June for welfare fraud, he indicated that he had been back in Hawaii for six years. His last known address was in Ewa Beach.

Fuller was released in August to a residential drug treatment program. He was indicted for violating the terms of his release in September when he was dropped from the program for allegedly making inappropriate and predatory advances toward a female resident and for allegedly using strong-arm tactics to take the car keys and papers of a male resident.

Kato said Fuller's murder is related to the murder of Tracey Tominaga, whose body was found April 3 in a shallow grave in the mountains above Makakilo. Tominaga had been missing since Jan. 20.

Police arrested Jason Perry, 23, on April 5 in connection with Fuller's murder and then booked him for Tominaga's murder the following day. He has not been charged with either murder but remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail on firearm and drug charges.

Police arrested six other men for Tominaga's murder but released them pending further investigation. Police picked up a seventh suspect but did not arrest him in connection with the murders, Kato said.

The Honolulu prosecutor's office is expected to take the matter before a grand jury next week.