Child’s slaying stuns HAWAIIAN BEACHES, Hawaii >> Six-year-old Kauilani Tadeo was a smart, happy first-grader who loved dancing and going to school, said her father, George Tadeo.
kin, neighbors
A 6-year-old Big Isle girl is found
stabbed and with head injuriesBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com
She came home on the school bus at 2:45 p.m. Thursday and played outside her house on the quiet residential street in the Hawaiian Beaches subdivision south of Hilo. But she did not come for supper at 6 p.m.
At 8:30 p.m. searchers found her body in a vacant house a block from her home.
The case is classified as murder, and an autopsy determined that the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head, police said. The girl also suffered stab wounds, sources said.
Police declined to say whether she was sexually molested.
"We're following up on leads we have, but there are not any suspects at this point," said Hawaii Police Department Capt. James Day. Police have ruled out the girl's family members as possible suspects, he said.
Police sources denied a report that a 10-year-old boy was a suspect.
Unlike many rural subdivisions in the Puna District south of Hilo, with unpaved roads and no utilities, Hawaiian Beaches consists of compact house lots served by paved roads, electricity and piped water. A few houses have junked cars in the front yards, but most are neat and orderly.
George Tadeo, 26, lives with his wife, Tumata, on a quiet loop off the subdivision's main street. They have two boys, ages 2 and 5.
Their daughter was found a few hundred feet away in a vacant house on Opihi Street.
Tadeo has lived his whole life in the subdivision.
With dozens of family and friends gathered at his house last night to comfort him, he said there are no bad areas in the community.
"To me, everywhere is good. Everybody is close. Everybody watches each other," he said. "Nothing like this ever happened.
"We have no enemies. We're friends with everybody."
Now Tadeo is afraid for his other children.
"I don't even want them to come on the road. I can't even trust my neighbors anymore," he said.
Kauilani was a happy girl, he said.
"She liked to draw. She liked to read books. She loved school. She loved dancing Tahitian. She loved everything," he said.
Tadeo's brother lives in a house next door. On the other side is a close friend. Several children live in the area.
When Kauilani played outside in the street, she could easily be seen from the houses, Tadeo said. If she wanted to go around the block to play, she would tell her parents.
The girl was last seen playing in her yard. Her parents noticed she was missing about 4 p.m., and called police at 6 p.m. after failing to find her.
"It's normal for the kids to come home from school, change their clothes and come out to play," said Ernesto Tadeo, the girl's uncle. "After that, 20 minutes later, my brother came out to look for her to tell her to eat something. He couldn't find her at that time."
Police and fire rescue personnel searched for the child for more than two hours before discovering her body.
At the nearby Da Store, neighbors reacted with shock and fear.
"It's really scary. It's really traumatic," said a woman who declined to give her name.
Police are asking anyone who saw unusual activity in the area Thursday afternoon or evening to call Big Island Police Detective Andrew Burian at 961-2381 or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.