Friends do not The last time Leiawapuhi Hunter saw Kahealani Indreginal alive, 11-year-old Indreginal was sitting calmly in the passenger seat of a blue Neon stopped at the red light outside her Makalapa housing complex.
believe suspect
acted by himself
Suspect tells police he beat girl with pipe
Boyfriend's action shocks Kahealani's sister
By Sally Apgar and Rick Daysog
sapgar@starbulletin.com | rdaysog@starbulletin.comIt was last Tuesday afternoon, the day Indreginal disappeared, and the driver was Christopher Clayburn Aki, said Hunter, a 17-year-old witness who gave police information that helped lead to Aki's arrest Friday night.
The 20-year-old Kalihi man was charged Sunday with second-degree murder for allegedly beating Indreginal with a metal pipe and leaving her for dead in the brush just off Aiea Loop Trail.
"I thought it was weird that Kahea was in the car with Chris," said Hunter, who grew up with Aki and Indreginal's family in the Puuwai Momi housing complex.
Hunter said Aki once lived with his mother on the bottom floor of Building 3, and the Indreginal family lived upstairs.
Hunter recalled yesterday how Tanya Mamala-Tumbaga, 18, who is Indreginal's half sister, fell in love with the skinny, "happy-go-lucky" boy.
Mamala-Tumbaga and Aki have an 11-month-old son, Ezra, and were talking about getting married, Hunter said. The two had been living together in Kalihi with Aki's mother for about a year.
Yesterday, Hunter said she agreed with Mamala-Tumbaga that Aki could not have acted alone.
Recalling the Tuesday stop at the red light, Hunter said: "It was just so weird that Kahea would get in Chris' car without Tanya. She would never do that. She always went with Tanya. And Chris never came around here without Tanya. It was unusual that Tanya wasn't there."
Hunter said she was sitting in the back seat of a van, so she had a direct view into the low-slung Neon. She said she could see Indreginal sitting in the front seat wearing beige corduroys, a long-sleeved beige shirt and her Hawaiian bracelets. She held her brown school backpack on her lap, Hunter said.
Although the car has tinted windows, Hunter said she could see the profile of a man sitting in the back seat.
"Chris couldn't do this on his own," she said. "Him and somebody else did it."
A 31-year-old homeless man who lives under a bridge in Aiea was arrested 12:35 a.m. Saturday in connection with the murder. A third man was also arrested Saturday. The two men were released Sunday, and police said Aki recanted an initial story that two other men were involved.
Indreginal's father, Vincent Indreginal, said yesterday: "I didn't think he (Aki) could pull off something like this by himself. He didn't seem the type. ... I didn't think he could be so cold-hearted."
Hunter said Aki used crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," but that in all the years she knew him, stoned or sober, she never saw him angry or violent.
"Chris used drugs," Hunter said. "You could always tell when he was on ice. His eyes get real red, and he can't stop moving or talking."
She said Mamala-Tumbaga was worried he would get arrested for drugs. Hunter also said she believed that Aki was in debt to drug dealers, desperate and wanted the girl's nine gold Hawaiian bracelets to pay them off.
Police have cited robbery as part of the motive.
"He had a big drug debt," she said.
Hunter added: "Kahea was an easy target, and she always wore her jewelry. She was killed because she would chirp, she would talk."
On Wednesday night, Indreginal's mother, Lehua Tumbaga, learned that the girl was seen in Aki's car the afternoon of her disappearance.
"I broke the news to her, and she was shocked," said Denise Hunter, Leiawapuhi's mother.
Hunter's husband, Lui Tuua, had also spotted Aki, walking with Indreginal down the hill to the lot where he parked his car. Police confiscated Aki's car in Kalihi on Saturday morning.
Denise Hunter said she saw Aki drive into Puuwai Momi about 1:30 Tuesday afternoon. He looked "like he'd had an argument, and he didn't say aloha," she said. "He just ran to the restroom and left. That was strange."
Denise Hunter said: "Something is missing here. Him by himself couldn't do this. It doesn't seem right. Chris is taking the fall, but why?"
Friends and employers also said yesterday they find it hard to believe that Aki was involved in the murder.
Ryan Teruya, who worked with Aki for several months at the Aloha Hyundai Kia auto dealership on Nimitz Highway, said his friend was a hard worker who often stayed hours after his shift to help co-workers.
He said Aki, who worked as a lot technician at Aloha Hyundai, before moving on to an affiliated company, Pacific Rim Cycle Superstore on Nimitz, was the type of person who would give a hungry stranger his last $5.
"I can't see him doing something like this. He's not the type of guy," said Teruya, now a salesman at Aloha Hyundai's Waipahu dealership. "I know him better than that."
Teruya said he last saw Aki about three months ago when Aki abruptly quit his job at Pacific Rim Cycle.
At the time, Aki was working seven days a week and needed time off to spend with his son. He also recently had his car stolen, Teruya said.
Tim Stephens, Aloha Hyundai's sales manager, recalled that Aki stopped showing up at work about three months ago. A few days later, Aki called to tell them he was quitting.
But Stephens, who hired Aki about eight months ago, said Aki was a model employee whom he was prepared to reinstate.
Stephens said he never saw the typical symptoms associated with drug use. Aki never displayed erratic behavior or a quick temper and was always polite and respectful.
"With him it was always 'Yes, sir' or 'No, sir,'" Stephens said. "It's a strange deal. With some people, you say, 'I saw this coming.' In this kid, you didn't see that. ... We're completely dumbfounded."
