Vigil honors homicide victims

A pair of isle women and a baby have been killed in recent weeks

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Roberta Monte didn't know how to cope with her grief after the death of the 23-month-old Cyrus Belt, who was thrown from a pedestrian overpass onto the H-1 freeway Thursday.

"It just hit hard," the 37-year-old said as her eyes welled up with tears.

So she took the night off from work and brought her husband, daughter, 13, and son, 4, to the candlelight vigil for Cyrus and Janel Tupuola, who allegedly was beaten to death last Wednesday by her ex-boyfriend with the butt of a shotgun in the middle of a Kailua street.

Monte held her son and said: "He's just a couple years older (than Cyrus)."

Island residents attended last night's vigil at the state Capitol after three shocking deaths in the past two weeks.

Jenny Hartsock, 39, was fatally stabbed outside her Kalihi apartment Jan. 9, allegedly by her husband.

Cyrus' grandfather, Lilo Asiata, said afterward, "I want to the thank all the people for all their support. We have this kind of love and outpouring of support, it made all the difference in the world."

Monte hopes Cyrus' case will open the eyes of parents who are in similar situations. "They should really put themselves in the mother's shoes so it doesn't happen to them."

Jon Oka, 45, said, "It's a real tragedy for the whole state." He came "to pay honor and respect to (Cyrus') short life."

Sandy Anderson, 36, who carried her 2-month-old baby, hoped to see friend Nancy Asiata Chanco, Cyrus' mother, who arrived later.

"I feel for all of them," Anderson said. "It's all because of the same thing. It's all because of the drugs."

"I'm in the treatment center," she said, referring to Women's Way, run by the Salvation Army, a program for abused women. "I just hope they would get help too."

Another friend of Chanco's, Christine Chock, 29 and nine months pregnant, said: "She was a good mom. She did the best she could. Being from a treatment center, 'ice' can ruin lives. You don't realize how it affects the children being on the drugs."

Jessica Carroll, 27, marched with her 16-month-old boy and two girls, 4 and 7.

"I'm still shaken up," she said. "My baby sitter lives on Miller Street. I have to go by there every single day."

Her daughter Aislinn, 7, said she and her mom placed a stuffed animal and a balloon at the overpass. "Mom was crying," she said.

Suzanne Green of the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence told the crowd the two women were killed "through no fault of their own," and that the perpetrators need to be held accountable.

She also said people need to hold their friends responsible if they know they are abusing their intimate partner emotionally, sexually or physically.

Tupuola's neighbor and friend, Tammy Josue, 38, who attended Tupuola's funeral service earlier in the day, said, "I wish I could have done more. She needed help."