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Kauai police
charge daughter,
her boyfriend
in killing
More charges may
By Anthony Sommer
be filed, police say
Kauai correspondentLIHUE -- Kauai police have arrested the daughter of slain Kauai resident Jeffrey Brisebois and her boyfriend in connection with the killing.
Brisebois, 48, was found shot to death in his home on June 26.
Amber Brisebois 18, and Matthew David Blakeswade, 21, were arrested Saturday afternoon and are being held on charges of second degree murder. They will be arraigned tomorrow. Police said it is possible additional charges will be filed against them, but would not be specific.
Initial bail was set at $20,000 for each. Neither had posted a bond as of this morning.
"I wouldn't say it was a family fight," said Inspector Mel Morris. "The preliminary hearing will be very interesting."
Brisebois was found shot once in the head. He lived alone on Powerhouse Road in an isolated, mountainous area in the Wainiha Valley. His daughter and Blakeswade lived in a separate house on the same property.
Brisebois was involved in extensive litigation with numerous other property owners on the north shore of Kauai involving access to his property. He had been charged with criminal assault, trespassing, criminal property damage and resisting arrest, all stemming from the neighborhood feud that went on for more than a decade. Several of his neighbors had court orders prohibiting him from coming near them.
Morris said the 17-day gap between the killing and the arrests was due largely to the need for laboratory tests and polygraph results before a warrant could be obtained. The Honolulu Police Department sent technicians to Kauai to help in the investigation.
If found to be murder, Brisebois' death would be the third this year on Kauai, population 56,000. There were no murders on the island in 1998 or 1999, and only a single, drug-related killing in 1997.
