Acquaintance arrested
in slaying of Kauai teen

Kauai police have arrested a 36-year-old Kalaheo man on suspicion of murder in the apparent stabbing death last week of 18-year-old Weslyn Jerves.

He was expected to be charged and taken to court this morning.

Police found Jerves' body Thursday in the cemetery area near Glass Beach in Hanapepe after a dispatcher received an anonymous report of the body. Jerves had been stabbed.

An autopsy was performed during the weekend, but police are not releasing the results.

Police arrested the man Sunday night after taking him in for questioning, said Roy Asher, Kauai police lieutenant. Asher said Jerves and the suspect were acquaintances.

"They know each other but it's not romantic; it's not domestic," he said.

Asher has said there is no reason for police to believe or suspect that Jerves' death is related to any previous homicides.

A possible serial killer sexually assaulted and stabbed three women on Kauai's west side in 2000. One of the victims survived but could not identify her attacker. The cases remain unsolved.