Man held in attack on Big Isle woman
HILO » Big Island police are holding a 24-year-old Mountain View man for attempted murder in the Friday afternoon attack of a pregnant woman who lies near death at a Honolulu hospital.
Responding to a 1:04 p.m. call, police and Fire Department paramedics found the victim, Sarah Fay, 34, unconscious in a house in the rural Fern Acres subdivision about 15 miles south of Hilo, police said.
Lt. Randall Medeiros said the woman had injuries on her head and body. A firearm was not used in the attack, but police have not excluded the possible use of another weapon, he said.
Fay was initially taken to Hilo Medical Center and later transferred to the Queen's Medical Center on Oahu, where she is listed in "very critical condition," Medeiros said.
KHNL-News 8 quoted the woman's brother, Michael Fay, as saying his sister was in a coma and that doctors declared her brain-dead. Both KHON-2 and KHNL reported that the woman was being kept alive so that her baby could be delivered. However, a spokeswoman at Queen's would not comment on the victim or her unborn child.
Medeiros said privacy laws prevented him from giving details of the woman or her child.
Maj. Paul Ferreira said that Fay and the suspect had an ongoing relationship, but he didn't have details.
Fay had taken out a temporary restraining order against the suspect in May, but it had expired, he said.
Fern Acres resident Hank Schultz said the house where the attack occurred had been abandoned for several years and was run-down.
Jim Tatar, past president of the community association, said the house had been sold in recent months, and Neighborhood Watch patrols had noticed improvements being made there.
Following the emergency call on Friday, police put out an all-points bulletin for a car the suspect was seen driving, and police stopped the vehicle in the Ainaloa subdivision, about five miles from the scene of the assault.
The suspect was initially arrested for four outstanding warrants for unrelated offenses. An assault investigation was started in connection with the Fern Acres incident.
On Monday, while being held at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center, the suspect was arrested for attempted murder.
Police had 48 hours, or until 3:35 p.m. today, to charge him for that crime or release him on that charge. However, they would continue to hold him in lieu of $17,000 bail for the unrelated outstanding warrants.
The suspect was arrested by police in 2003 for dragging a police officer with his car in Pahoa town. He had been driving in a reckless manner in a parking lot about 7 p.m. When the officer confronted him, the man tried to speed away, catching the officer's arm in the car window and dragging him for about 30 feet before the officer could free himself.
The man, who had no permanent address at the time, sped away but was arrested a week later on the other side of the island at Spencer Beach Park.
