The 27-year-old man arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Makaha man on Wednesday had argued with the victim in the past, and both might have been involved in drugs, a neighbor said.

Police booked Thomas C. Muscara about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Johnny Walton Jr., 51.

Muscara had not been charged as of late last night.

Police responded to a report shortly after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday about an argument between neighbors at Makaha Valley Plantation, a gated complex with 572 condominiums at Kiana Place.

They found Walton with stab wounds to his right side.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office said Walton died of blood loss from a cut in his right arm.

A neighbor described Walton as an ex-Marine and a rehabilitated drug user who had been on disability.

Evelyn Iaea, who lives below Walton's unit, said he moved in with his wife about three years ago and told Iaea he was the first to graduate from a drug program in Kalaeloa.

She said Walton's daughter, who is about 6, lives with his brother.

    Feud over $20 allegedly led to fatal stabbing

 

 

The victim is 52-year-old Johnny Walton, and the man suspected of stabbing him is 27-year-old Thomas Muscara.

 

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Walton and his wife broke up after a loud, two-day argument around Christmas, Iaea said. The wife came back with police to get her belongings, she added.

“;I feel bad,”; Iaea said. “;He's been in a drug problem. He was trying to change his life. ... He was kind of nice, but when he got angry he had a temper.”;

She said Muscara, who also lived at the complex, had gotten into arguments with Walton before, mouthing off to him or coming by to yell up to his apartment.

Muscara has three traffic convictions and a disorderly-conduct violation.

Officers recovered a folding knife believed to be the murder weapon in the parking lot where the men had been fighting.

Walton was the third person to die of stab wounds this week on Oahu.