Slain girl’s blood
was on rockChristopher Aki has said
someone else used the rock
to kill Kahealani Indreginal
The blood on a large rock recovered at Keaiwa Heiau State Park belonged to slain 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal, DNA tests show.
The test results were among evidence introduced yesterday at the trial of accused murderer Christopher Aki by his defense, which contends that the rock was used by another man to kill the girl.
Aki, 21, is on trial in Circuit Court charged with second-degree murder in Kahealani's death on Dec. 10, 2002. Prosecutors say Aki killed her with a pipe while under the effects of crystal methamphetamine.
Aki confessed to police hours after the girl's body was found and after initially denying any involvement.
The defense, which began presenting its case yesterday, says Aki falsely confessed. He now alleges that Kahealani was killed with a knife and large rock by her uncle, Dennis Cacatian, at the park.
The defense showed jurors the rock they said was used to kill Kahealani. The reddish-brown rock is about 14 by 9 inches and 7 inches high and weighs about 40 pounds.
Preliminary testing for trace evidence showed that embedded in the rock was body tissue, specifically hair and remnants of a "viscous, dark-colored substance that later turned out to be blood," testified Mark Hagadone, president and technical director at Ainalab, a forensic laboratory in Kaimuki.
The tissue was so embedded into the rock that it "in essence was glued to the surface from coagulation of blood," he said. Hagadone said he did not analyze the hairs.
Test of the tissue at Technical Associates, a California laboratory, showed it was from Kahealani.
The rock was not found by police during their search of the area where the body was found. Instead, it was recovered by Gregory Tavares, chief investigator for the Public Defender's Office, on Dec. 26, 2002 -- 13 days after Kahealani's body was found -- near the area where the body was discovered.
There was no dirt clinging to the underside of the rock or insects and bugs beneath it as one might see with a rock that had been there for some time, he said. Under the rock were dried and fresh leaves, an indication that it had been moved from another location, he said.
In court papers, Aki claimed that at the time of the slaying, Cacatian and an unidentified man carried a large rock down the trail toward the area where she was killed.
The medical examiner testified last week that although Kahealani had been repeatedly stabbed, she died of an assault to her head and face that broke her jaw in two places and fractured her palate.
Aki's trial resumes Tuesday, and he is expected to take the stand later in the week.