DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Personnel from the Honolulu Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division returned to an area adjacent to a parking lot at Aiea Loop Trail Park yesterday, searching for forensic evidence in the killing of 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal.

Pawnshops checked
for Kahealani’s
gold bracelets

Her accused killer says
he placed the 9 bracelets in
a bag, then threw it away

---

By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

Leeward Oahu pawnshop owners said Honolulu police were going store to store yesterday afternoon to find out whether anyone had tried to sell bracelets belonging to 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal, whose body was found last week near an Aiea trail.

The man charged with murdering Indreginal, 20-year-old Christopher Clayburn Aki, told police last weekend that he took Indreginal's nine gold bracelets when he attacked her Dec. 10 at Keaiwa Heiau State Park. However, Aki said later that day he put the bracelets in a brown paper bag and threw the bag in the trash, according to a source close to the investigation.

Police are not commenting on the search for the bracelets, and it is unclear whether they are checking pawnshops as a precaution, believe someone recovered the bracelets from the trash or if they have doubts about Aki's story.

"All they said was, 'We're looking for the jewelry for that girl,'" said Pearl City Pawn and Jewelry shop owner Gordon K.C. Moore. "They weren't rude or anything; they just checked the pawn tickets, then left. ... They were here maybe five minutes."

A Leeward Gold pawnshop employee who did not want to be identified said police had also checked stores for the bracelets Saturday, a day after Indreginal's body was located off the Aiea Loop Trail.

Leeward Pawn Brokers owner David Graves said while police do check in with pawnshops on a weekly basis, yesterday's visit was specifically geared to whether anyone had come in within the last few days trying to sell Indreginal's bracelets.

"All of us are searching diligently for those bracelets," Graves said. "We're all working directly with the police.

"This kind of thing hits home for all of us, whether you have kids or not," he said.

Police also revisited yesterday the site where Indreginal's body was found, looking for forensic evidence to corroborate Aki's story. According to the source, Aki told police that he beat Indreginal with a metal pipe twice, then left her in the brush near the trail.

Aki said that two days later, he went back to check on the body and found it was 50 to 100 yards away from where he originally he left her, according to the source.

So far, police have not been able to find evidence to show Indreginal's body was anywhere else besides her final resting place.

Police are also scheduled today to check another part of Aki's story by searching the area where he said he disposed of the metal pipe. Aki told police he threw the pipe near the mouth of Halawa Stream, which feeds into Pearl Harbor. The area is about two blocks away from Puuwai Momi Housing complex, where Indreginal's family lives and where witnesses last saw her alive.

Police were assessing the area yesterday and said divers would be searching for the pipe this morning. Aki is currently being held at Oahu Correctional Community Center in lieu of $5 million bail.