Murder arrest For two decades Sheri McArthur kept a police sketch of the suspect in her sister's murder on her refrigerator door hoping that someday he would be brought to justice.
after 26 years
The state is taking steps to
extradite a suspect from IndianaBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comThat day may have come yesterday.
Honolulu police detectives and a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigator traveled to Indianapolis and arrested Delmar J. Edmonds for the murder 26 years ago of 13-year-old Dawn "Dede" Bustamante, said deputy city prosecutor Rom Trader.
Edmonds, a 46-year-old former Kaneohe Marine, remains in custody in Indiana in lieu of $500,000 bail as authorities here seek his extradition to Hawaii, Trader said.
"I'm looking forward to the trial, for everybody to find out the truth," said McArthur, 38. "From what I know, he will be found guilty."
"My family knows it's going to bring back all the bad memories. In the long run it's going to be a good thing," she said.
The victim and a friend were walking in Kailua the evening of March 14, 1975, when they were abducted by a lone male. The girls were taken to the Pali Golf Course where Bustamante was raped. The other girl managed to escape but Bustamante was shot in the head as she tried to flee and was left to die.Honolulu homicide detective Hal Fitchett interviewed Edmonds on July 17 at the Indiana State Police office. After he was read his rights, Edmonds waived his rights to counsel and admitted to owning a silver-colored .38-caliber handgun with pearl grips and a yellow floppy hat similar to one recovered by police. He also admitted being in the area where the shooting occurred, according to a police affidavit filed in state Circuit Court yesterday.
The affidavit also states that the other girl described the suspect, his vehicle and weapon in detail. And although she did pick Edmonds out in a police lineup, she could not positively identify him or his car.
McArthur, who was a year younger than her sister, said much of what happened the day her sister was killed and her childhood after that is a blur. And the family did not talk about it because her mom would cry.
"I was so young it really didn't hit me until I was an adult," she said.
McArthur, who lives in Kailua, said she started doing her own research on the case and the suspect. "I knew his name, got all the clippings in the newspaper hoping that one day I would find out where he was. I knew he the main suspect," she said.
But the case went nowhere until her younger sister started dating an investigator with the Naval Intelligence Service stationed at Pearl Harbor two years ago.
McArthur said she showed the clippings to the investigator, who is now her brother-in-law. He brought the case to Honolulu Police and she said police renewed the investigation and gathered new evidence with modern technology not available at the time of the murder, such as DNA testing.
McArthur said police have kept her informed ever since and she knew that they were going to arrest Edmonds yesterday.
Edmonds will be prosecuted under the murder law in effect 26-years ago and is facing life in prison with the possibility of parole.
There is no statute of limitations on murder.
According to the police affidavit, Steve T. Parker, a fellow Marine and friend of Edmonds, told Naval investigative authorities during an interview on July 14, 2001 that he and another Marine, Tyrone Vaughn, had been drinking at Edmonds' apartment after work one evening in March 1975 when Edmonds left in his car.
Edmonds returned later and appeared upset, Parker said. While walking into the bedroom, Edmonds said the female "got blood all over his seat and he had to kill her," according to the affidavit.
Parker said he had seen Edmonds with a silver-colored revolver in the past and that Edmonds wore a floppy hat which was light yellow or pink.
Naval investigators also interviewed the other girl who was abducted with Bustamante.
Cherie Verdugo-McCoy, who now lives in California, said the two girls were walking on Kawailoa Road early on March 14, 1975, when a man waved a firearm at them and ordered them into his car. He drove them to a remote area on Kionoale Road and parked. He raped Bustamante in the back seat and then ordered both females out of the car.
He walked them to the brush area where he struck Bustamante on the back of her head, knocking her on the ground, Verdugo-McCoy stated.
He then struck Verdugo-McCoy but she pretended to be unconscious so he would leave them. But the man grabbed her by the neck and tried to choke her. Bustamante managed to get up and began running, diverting his attention.
The man released his hold on Verdugo and chased Bustamante. Verdugo fled in the opposite direction and heard a single gunshot.
Star-Bulletin reporter Debra Barayuga
contributed to this report.