Father agonizes over
why his son died

Cassidy Toole, 20, was on the
Big Island to work with his uncle

---

By Rod Thompson and Rod Antone
rthompson@starbulletin.com
rantone@starbulletin.com

Matthew Toole sits up late at night in his Dallas home and wonders one thing: Why?

Why did someone murder his son, 20-year-old Cassidy Toole, then leave his body to rot in a vacant Puna lot?

"The thing that bothered me the most was the thought of my son begging for his life," said Toole, 46, during a phone interview yesterday. "I want to know the truth. I don't care what it is. I just have to know."

So far, Toole said, he only knows what has been reported in the news media: that last week, Hilo police found his son's body along with the body of a man believed to have been Cassidy's roommate, 19-year-old Wesley Alan Matheson. Both died of gunshot wounds to the head.

Toole also knows that police have charged two other young men with the murders, Kyle Z.T. Hill, 19, and John McGovern, 18. According to police reports filed Monday and yesterday in Hilo District Court, both suspects confessed to the killings.

Despite the police reports of confessions, Hill's attorney said his client would plead not guilty.

"I don't feel they have enough evidence to believe my client committed this crime," said defense attorney Brian De Lima.

Both Hill and McGovern are charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in a felony. McGovern also faces an auto theft and a marijuana charge.

The police report says Hill admitted to shooting one victim outside a house in Fern Acres and then shooting another victim who was lying on the floor inside the house.

The weapon used was a .22-caliber rifle, the report says.

The wording is similar to the language used in the report on McGovern.

All of this Toole said he knows, but the information does not tell him what he needs to know: Why?

"It's like it was a plane crash," said Toole. "You know it can happen, but who knew that he would run into people like this?"

"How many 18- and 19-year-olds in the world would do something like that?"

Toole said his son left Dallas earlier this year to do some construction work with his brother -- Cassidy's uncle -- on the Big Island to get a "fresh start."

"My son had dealings with drugs, ecstasy, magic mushrooms -- I want to be honest about that," said Toole. "But he didn't deserve this. He was not a violent kid."

Toole said he also does not understand the motivation behind the killings, if there were one. Toole said that according to police, it appears the suspects stole items from his son's Fern Acres home and took his car, which was found stripped and abandoned in Kau on May 15.

"Jesus, they could have robbed his house when he wasn't there," said Toole. "I want the damn truth about what went on in that house.

"Right now, it's like they killed my son for nothing, for totally nothing. I mean, why?"

Toole may have to wait for further court hearings to find out more details.

A preliminary hearing for Hill is scheduled for tomorrow, while one for McGovern is scheduled for June 28.

Earlier this week, McGovern's attorney Stanton Oshiro was granted a delay until June 28 because Oshiro said he needed time to analyze a large volume of police information about McGovern.