Body buried
in yard for almost
two years

The corpse is believed to be
that of a former tenant who
lived there with his daughter

---

By Nelson Daranciang
Star-Bulletin

FRANK AND ALMA CRUZ did not believe Honolulu police when they told the retired couple there may be a body buried in their back yard.

Their disbelief turned into shock Tuesday when specialists from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii unearthed human remains wrapped in heavy canvas.

"Until I saw the canvas and then the shape -- the person, whoever did this, must be sick," Alma Cruz said. "I don't know how they could do that."

The remains are believed to be those of a 75-year-old man who had lived at the two-bedroom duplex at 86-185-A Mailiilii Rd. with his 50-year-old daughter until May 1999, said Honolulu police Detective Michael Tsuda. He said he sought the assistance of the Army to recover the remains "because they're the experts."

The Cruzes began renting the unit in January 2000 and immediately began weeding the yard, planting grass and unknowingly stepping all over the grave.

"It's not right," Frank Cruz said. "When she moves, she's only renting; his body is still going to be here. How can she put flowers or something like that? It's like she doesn't care."

The daughter moved to Richland, Wash., where she told family there and in Hawaii that she had placed her father into a care home.

But recently she admitted to her family that she had lied and said she had actually buried him in the back yard after he died.

Family members here and on the mainland called police last weekend after the daughter's confession.

The daughter told police that her father died of natural causes, Tsuda said. The Honolulu medical examiner yesterday performed an autopsy and is awaiting test results.

The case is classified as an unattended death. Tsuda said federal investigators are looking into whether the daughter continued to collect her father's Social Security checks after he died.

Neighbor Ernestine Ramos said she was too upset to watch when Army specialists began digging. She said the daughter told her the father died in the hospital.

"She used to take care of him so good," Ramos said. "I cannot understand how she could do that."

The Cruzes said they will never forget how they felt when investigators peeled back the layers of canvas to confirm that it did contain a body.

But they do not plan to move and even turned down an offer from their landlord to put them up in a hotel for a few days.