Ko Olina man indicted
in wife’s strangling

Bail set at $100,000

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By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

An Oahu grand jury has indicted a Ko Olina man for second-degree murder in the strangling of his wife last April.

The indictment charges Kenneth Wakisaka, 45, with knowingly and intentionally causing his wife's death on April 5. Bail was set at $100,000.

At a hearing yesterday on the state's request for high bail, Deputy Prosecutor Dan Oyasato said Shirlene Wakisaka, 54, had expressed fears to her adult daughter that her husband wanted to kill her.

The couple had been married for nine years, except for an eight-month separation during which Shirlene Wakisaka moved to the mainland.

Despite her fear, the couple reunited in late February.

On April 5, ambulance personnel were sent to the couple's Aliinui Drive home. Shirlene Wakisaka's daughter on the mainland called them because she was concerned that her mother had said she was dying.

But when an ambulance and fire company arrived to assist, Kenneth Wakisaka told a fireman that his wife had taken alcohol and pills and did not need help. He signed a release so they would not take her to the hospital.

Eight hours later, after emergency personnel left, Wakisaka called 911 and reported that his wife was not responding.

She had lapsed into a coma, from which she never awoke, and died five days later.

At the time, the case appeared to be an attempted suicide after prescription drugs were found in her system.