CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM The murder trial of Kirk Matthew Lankford took a trip to Pupukea and the Kahana Bay area yesterday, where Masumi Watanabe was last seen. At Kahana Bay, Lankford's defense attorney, Don Wilkerson, carried away a shovel used by two women who were there yesterday, trying to find a missing body. The jury was bought in shortly after and not shown the tools.

Jury retraces steps in case Watanabe case

Jurors view locations of Lankford and victim

When the jurors in Kirk Matthew Lankford's trial arrived for their scheduled site visit at Kahana Bay yesterday, three people were digging in the spot where a witness said he saw the accused killer the night presumed murder victim Masumi Watanabe disappeared.

One of the three people who was digging was John Thoma, the witness who testified he confronted Lankford there at about midnight April 12, digging a hole with a shovel by flashlight.

The other two were Thoma's friends Shannon Moultrie and Irene Theofanis. The women were also friends of Linda Hannon, Thoma's girlfriend, whose murdered body was found nearby less than two months before Watanabe disappeared. Hannon's murder remains unsolved.

"I've been wanting to dig here ever since John told me he saw the guy digging here," Theofanis said.

Yesterday was the first time Theofanis could take a day off to check out the site. She said they were hoping to find Watanabe's body or clues that might lead to its recovery.

Honolulu City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle and defense attorney Don Wilkerson said they hustled away the diggers and their equipment while the jurors were still in their vans along Kamehameha Highway. Once the jurors were allowed on the site, they were kept 50 feet away from where the people were digging.

Presiding Judge Karl Sakamoto said he believes any problem that could have been caused by the jurors witnessing the people digging was averted.

However, Wilkerson said one of the three juror vans was within view of the dig site. He asked Sakamoto to question those jurors who were in the van individually on Monday to find out what they saw.

Kahana Bay was the last stop on a daylong tour of locations mentioned by prosecution witnesses of Watanabe's movements the day she disappeared, and stops along Lankford's movements according to the Global Positioning System beacon in his Hauoli Termite & Pest Control work truck. Those other locations are all in Pupukea.

Wilkerson had said earlier that he would like the jurors to visit a site along Kamehameha Highway near Mokolii island (Chinaman's Hat) in Kualoa; however, he chose not to show them yesterday. Sakamoto said there might be an opportunity for another site visit for jurors.

Honolulu police would not say whether the mention of the Kualoa site will prompt a search of the area. Honolulu Police Department spokesman Frank Fujii said police conduct investigations based on information they receive.

Based on information police received since Watanabe disappeared, Honolulu Fire Department search and rescue personnel have rappelled down an abandoned well in Pupukea and the cliffs at Pali Lookout, city lifeguards have searched the waters at the bottom of the cliffs at Makapuu, state Transportation Department personnel have searched along H-3 freeway and state Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officers have examined possible grave sites.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Left, in Pupukea the jury convened yesterday at a spot designated as "yellow 3." This was where presumed murder victim Masumi Watanabe was allegedly dropped off April 12. Right, Kirk Matthew Lankford paused to look at the camera, flanked by his attorney, Don Wilkerson.