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Killer gets life term for 1987 Hilo murder


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POSTED: Thursday, January 08, 2009

HILO » Convicted murderer Frank Janto rambled on for more than 20 minutes about how he was dissatisfied with his attorney, how he apologized to the people of the Big Island and how he had found God.

Finally, Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura stopped him yesterday and sentenced him to life with possible parole for the 1987 sexual assault and murder of Rose Chiquita, 65, in a Hilo gas station bathroom.

Janto, 45, is already serving a minimum 75-year sentence at a Mississippi prison for the 1997 murder of Bongak “;Jackie”; Koja, 56, on Oahu.

The Hawaii Paroling Authority will set the minimum term for Chiquita's death, but with Janto already serving 75 years in the Koja case, Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville said, “;He's not going to get out.”;

Janto burst into public view in 1997 for attacking Koja. She had screamed for five minutes during the early morning attack, but people thought they were hearing rowdy teenagers. He is believed to have placed her body in a trash bin, which was emptied at the HPOWER incinerator.

Hilo police soon saw a similarity to the unsolved death of Chiquita, another early morning attack on a woman over 50.

With Janto locked away for the Koja killing, progress on the Hilo case was slow until an indictment last year, followed by a plea agreement.

In his statement yesterday, Janto asked the court for “;leeway”; in sentencing, complaining that one of his attorneys failed to take proper notice of a possible 10-year sentence.

Brought to Hawaii in his youth, Janto recalled living in parks and the rain forest, growing marijuana, getting into drugs, being “;out of control.”;

He told the court, “;I was a fornicator, a murderer, a man whole stole, a drunkard. I was everything that is evil.”;

But one night in jail he got on his knees and turned his life over to God, he said.

“;I know if I die, I will be with Christ in heaven,”; he said. “;I'm an ambassador of God now.”;

Following the sentencing, Damerville noted that Janto spoke only about himself, nothing about his victims. “;This is basically a serial killer,”; he said.

In Chiquita's case he broke her ribs, sexually assaulted her and then cut her throat, Damerville said.

Before attacking Koja, he attacked another older woman, who escaped, and he was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls, ages 7 and 9.

He probably does not want people in the Mississippi prison to know these things, Damerville said.

“;Sex offenders who pick on children and the elderly do not do well in prison,”; he said.