Alleged killer of girl
is now in new facility

Oahu Correctional officials
make the move for his safety

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By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

The man charged with killing 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal has been moved to a more secure holding facility for his protection, according to Oahu Community Correctional Center officials.

Christopher Aki, 20, was transferred three weeks ago into the same protective-custody housing unit that once held Xerox killer Byran Uyesugi and former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa, said OCCC Warden Clayton Frank.

Since his arrest in December, Aki had been separated from the general population of inmates and placed in the facility's mental health module. But Frank said the new housing unit is more secure, and fewer people have access to it.

"This protective-custody module is really restrictive," he said. "Counting Aki, there are only six inmates in there."

Frank said an assessment by physicians and psychologists determined that Aki did not need to be held in the health module. However, he said, threats from other inmates convinced Frank that Aki still needed to be kept away from the general inmate population.

"There's a lot of rumors that go around," he said, "mainly because of the nature of his crime.

"It's for his own protection."

Police said Aki told them that on Dec. 10 he repeatedly beat Indreginal with a metal pipe, took her gold bracelets, then left her to die at Keaiwa Heiau State Park. The girl's body was found three days later after a massive search of the Halawa, Salt Lake and Aiea areas.

Aki, who was the boyfriend of Indreginal's half sister, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Although police said Aki has taken responsibility for Indreginal's death, they continue to investigate the case and are still looking for the murder weapon, which Aki said he disposed of at the mouth of Halawa Stream.

Police are also still looking for the girl's missing bracelets, which Aki said he threw away in the trash.