Beneath the Palms: Hawaii's True Crime, Mysteries & Untold History

Joseph Kahahawai Jr. was only twenty-two years old when his name became tied forever to one of the most infamous cases in territorial Hawaiʻi: the Massie case.

Before the headlines, before the courtroom, before the one-hour sentence, Joseph was a son of Maui, a young Native Hawaiian man, a football player, a boxer, a guardsman, and part of a local family whose grief was forced into public view.

In 1931, Thalia Massie accused five local men of assault after a night in Waikiki. Joseph Kahahawai Jr., Horace Ida, Henry Chang, David Takai, and Ben Ahakuelo were arrested and tried. The first Ala Moana trial ended in a hung jury after ninety-seven hours. They were not convicted.

Before any second trial could decide anything, Joseph was taken from near the Judiciary Building with a forged summons, driven to Mānoa, and killed. Grace Fortescue, Thomas Massie, E. J. Lord, and Albert Jones were later convicted of manslaughter. Judge Charles Davis sentenced them to up to ten years. Governor Lawrence Judd reduced that sentence to one hour.

This episode returns the story to Joseph, his family, the other accused local men, and the Hawaiʻi that lived with the wound. Not as scandal. Not as courtroom theater. As a human life cut down before the law ever finished speaking.

Listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussion of an alleged sexual assault, racialized press coverage, abduction, murder, vigilante violence, and injustice in territorial Hawaiʻi.

Sources:

The Massie Case and Hawaiʻi: A Timeline | American Experience | PBS – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/island-murder-hawaiian-history-and-massie-case/

Joseph Kahahawai’s Murder | American Experience | PBS – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/island-murder-joseph-kahahawais-murder/

The Island Murder | American Experience | PBS – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/island-murder/

Hawaiian History Month: The Massie Case | University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu Library – https://westoahu.hawaii.edu/library/2021/09/21/hawaiianhistorymonth-the-massie-case/

Clarence Darrow and the Massie Trial | University of Missouri-Kansas City – https://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/darrow/massie.htm

The American Raj | The New Yorker – https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/05/07/the-american-raj-pearl-harbor

Contemporary reporting from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, and Hoku o Hawaii via Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/

nupepa: Hawaiian Language Newspapers – https://nupepa-hawaii.com/

Music close: “Aloha ʻOe” by The Rose Ensemble from Nā Mele Hawaiʻi: A Rediscovery of Hawaiian Vocal Music.

#JosephKahahawaiJr #MassieCase #HawaiiTrueCrime #NativeHawaiianHistory #BeneathThePalms

Eugene Walter Barrett was not a warning sign Hawaii missed once. He was a man whose name appeared again and again in Honolulu court records, parole history, old newspaper archives, and finally in the memories of families left behind after three women were gone.

This episode of Beneath the Palms follows the case of Eugene Walter Barrett, a Honolulu killer connected to the deaths of Annie Phillips in 1959, Roberta Ululani Barrett in 1972, and Doneshia “Roxanne” Kastner in 1995.

Annie Phillips was a mother of five. Roberta Ululani Barrett was a young mother whose life should still have been ahead of her. Roxanne Kastner was a wife, a mother, and a woman remembered as warm, outgoing, and full of life. Each woman deserved more than the court record gave her. Each woman deserved to be remembered by name.

The central question in this episode is not just what Eugene Barrett did. It is how a man who had already killed was released, and then released again, before another woman died. The record moves through domestic violence, parole decisions, reduced charges, psychiatric concerns, and the long shadow left on children who had to grow up with loss no child should carry.

In Roxanne’s case, her seven-year-old son Ethan was outside riding his bicycle when he heard gunshots. He saw Gene leaving the building. Then he went inside and found his mother on the bedroom floor. His words afterward still carry the weight of the entire case: “Gene shot mommy.”

This is a Hawaii true crime story, but it is also a domestic violence story. It is about patterns, missed warnings, and the danger of treating each violent incident as if it exists alone. Annie, Roberta, and Roxanne were not footnotes in Eugene Barrett’s life. They were women, mothers, loved ones, and people whose lives mattered before they became part of this record.

Listener discretion is advised. This episode discusses domestic violence, stalking behavior, threats, murder, child witnesses, and grief carried by surviving families.

Sources:

Man killed 3 Honolulu women over 36-year period - https://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/12/13/news/story14.html

Accused killer says he tried to get help - https://ipac2.librarieshawaii.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?booklistformat=&profile=main&session=U508440X5W234.39&uri=full%3D3100001~%21127817~%210

Shooting suspect faces charges - https://ipac2.librarieshawaii.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?booklistformat=&profile=main&session=17W45I30636A4.702196&uri=full%3D3100001~%21342142~%210

Honolulu Star-Bulletin Archive: Saturday, December 13, 2003 - https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/273864862/

The Ballad of Mean Gene Barrett - https://medium.com/%40truecrimeotaku/the-ballad-of-mean-gene-barrett-3296f44c704e

Doneshia “RoxAnne” Kastner, age 41 - https://gunmemorial.org/1995/08/11/doneshia-roxanne-kastner

Additional research included archived Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser newspaper coverage from 1953, 1956, 1959, 1971 through 1973, 1995, and 1997, including court reporting, parole history, sentencing coverage, and public memorial material connected to Doneshia “Roxanne” Kastner.

Hashtags: #HawaiiTrueCrime #EugeneBarrett #RoxanneKastner #BeneathThePalms #DomesticViolenceAwareness

The Murder at the Moana Hotel | Jane Stanford’s Unsolved Poisoning in Honolulu

In 1905, Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University, arrived in Honolulu and checked into the Moana Hotel in Waikiki. She was one of the most powerful women in America, a widow, a grieving mother, and the woman who had fought to keep Stanford University alive after the deaths of her husband and only child.

Then, on the evening of February 28, she became violently ill after taking bicarbonate of soda, an ordinary household remedy meant to soothe the stomach.

In her final hours, Jane said the words that would travel around the world:

“I have been poisoned.”

Hawaii’s coroner’s jury later ruled that Jane Stanford died from strychnine poisoning, administered with felonious intent by a person or persons unknown. More than 120 years later, no one has ever been convicted.

This episode of Beneath the Palms follows the life, grief, power, and final mystery of Jane Stanford. From the death of her son, to the founding of Stanford University, to the first alleged poisoning attempt in San Francisco, to her death at the Moana Hotel in Honolulu, this is one of Hawaii’s oldest unsolved murder mysteries and one of the most overlooked true crime stories in American history.

This is not just a story about wealth, legacy, or a famous university. It is the story of a woman who carried unbearable loss, built something meant to outlive her, and died trying to tell the people around her what she believed was happening to her.

Sources

Our Heritage, Our Mission | Stanford Magazine - https://stanfordmag.org/contents/our-heritage-our-mission

Founding Mothers: Jane and Jane | Stanford University Libraries - https://exhibits.stanford.edu/stanford/founding-mothers-jane-and-jane

Stanford Special Collections and University Archives - https://library.stanford.edu/spc

Library of Congress, Chronicling America Historic Newspapers - https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Newspapers.com Historical Newspaper Archive - https://www.newspapers.com/

Additional contemporaneous newspaper coverage reviewed from the Honolulu Commercial Advertiser, Hawaiian Gazette, Hawaiian Star, Evening Bulletin, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Call, Oakland Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, Oregonian, Buffalo Courier, Syracuse Herald, Coshocton Daily Age, Fresno Morning Republican, The State, and other historical newspaper archives covering Jane Stanford’s death, the Moana Hotel poisoning, the coroner’s jury verdict, and the later public dispute over the finding.

#JaneStanford #MoanaHotel #StanfordUniversity #HawaiiTrueCrime #UnsolvedMurder

The Pier 24 Execution: David Walden’s Unsolved Murder

On April 16, 1994, David Larry Walden went to Honolulu Harbor for work. He was waiting near Pier 24 for a production vehicle coming from Maui when two helmeted men arrived on a motorcycle. Within seconds, David, a husband, father of four, Navy veteran, and working man, was shot to death in a public parking lot near 711 North Nimitz Highway.

This episode of Beneath the Palms follows the unsolved murder of David Walden and the world surrounding it: Hawaii’s film and television production industry, Star Suites, movie-production trucks, the 1991 equipment fires, business disputes, reported threats, federal attention, and the questions that still remain more than thirty years later.

No one has ever been charged with David Walden’s murder. This story includes allegations involving business disputes, labor conflict, arson, extortion, and publicly named individuals. Unless otherwise stated, those allegations were never proven in court.

Mahalo to David’s daughter, Angela Whitworth, who has continued speaking publicly about her father’s case for years, and who took the time to read this story before recording so David could be remembered with care.

If you have information about the murder of David L. Walden, contact CrimeStoppers Honolulu at 808-955-8300 or submit an anonymous tip through the P3 Tips app.

Sources:
David L. Walden - Honolulu Police Department
Driving Factors - FLUX Hawaii, James Dooley
20th anniversary of cold case murder, still no arrests - Hawaii News Now
25 years after father’s ‘calculated execution,’ daughter renews plea for tips - Hawaii News Now
Honolulu Cold Case: Daughter seeks public’s help to find her father’s killers - Hawaii Reporter
Slain man had movie trailer link - Honolulu Advertiser, Apr. 20, 1994
Police hunting two in slaying by waterfront - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Apr. 20, 1994
Film industry violence in Isles probed by FBI - Honolulu Advertiser, May 21, 1994
Film worker slaying hasn’t been solved - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jul. 2, 1997
Smoke from isle film fires fogs Hollywood - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jun. 12, 1991
Teamster charges fly in aftermath of fires - Honolulu Advertiser, Jun. 12, 1991
Arson forces owner out of business - Honolulu Advertiser, Jun. 14, 1991
Film-industry figure denies arson - Honolulu Advertiser, Apr. 22, 1999
David Larry Walden obituary and memorial notice - The Kansas City Star, Apr. 1994

#DavidWalden #HawaiiTrueCrime #UnsolvedMurder #Honolulu #BeneathThePalms

Owen Hamada was found beaten to death inside the women’s restroom at Waikele Community Park on March 21, 2005. More than twenty years later, his murder remains unsolved.

Owen was originally from Hilo, worked in construction and roofing, and was a familiar face around Waikele Shopping Center. Police said he regularly slept overnight in the park restroom and was last seen alive the previous evening at the Waikele McDonald’s. His wallet was missing when park employees found him at about 7:00 a.m.

This episode of Beneath the Palms follows Owen’s life before the headline, the final known hours of Sunday, March 20, the early homicide investigation, his family’s reward offer, and the renewed cold-case appeal in 2006. It also examines the limited possibilities raised by the missing wallet, his visible routine, and the unknown hours before his death, while keeping every unproven idea separate from verified fact.

Owen was more than the word “homeless.” He was a son of Hilo, a working man, a brother, a father of four, and a grandfather of eleven. This story is told with care for Owen, his family, the park employees who found him, and the community that knew his face.

Listener discretion advised: This episode discusses homicide, homelessness, and fatal violence.

If you have information: Contact Honolulu CrimeStoppers at 808-955-8300, submit an anonymous online tip, or use the P3 Tips app. Do not investigate the case yourself or post accusations online.

Sources:

• Owen Hamada | Honolulu Police Department – https://www.honolulupd.org/cold-case/owen-hamada/
• Attackers Sought in Fatal Beating | The Honolulu Advertiser – https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/266825232/
• Suspect Sought in Homeless Man’s Death | Honolulu Star-Bulletin – https://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/03/24/news/briefs.html
• Reward Offered in Waikele Death | The Honolulu Advertiser – https://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jun/03/ln/ln18p.html
• Owen Kazutoshi Hamada Obituary | The Honolulu Advertiser – https://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/14/ln/ln50pobituaries.html
• Owen Kazutoshi Hamada Obituary | Honolulu Star-Bulletin – https://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/04/15/news/obits.html
• Police Seek Help in Beating Death | The Honolulu Advertiser – https://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Nov/03/ln/FP611030370.html
• Public’s Help Sought in Homeless Man’s Death | Honolulu Star-Bulletin – https://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/11/04/news/briefs.html
• Owen Kazutoshi Hamada Obituary | Hawaii Tribune-Herald – https://staradvertiser.newspapers.com/paper/hawaii-tribune-herald/12556/articles/2005-04-13
• CrimeStoppers Honolulu – https://www.honolulucrimestoppers.org/

Mahalo to Yoza for the song “Broken Wings.”

#BeneathThePalms #OwenHamada #HawaiiTrueCrime #UnsolvedMurder #Waikele

Kalaupapa forced exile on Molokai remains one of the darkest and most important stories in Hawaii history. In 1866, the Hawaiian Kingdom began sending people diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, then commonly called leprosy, to the remote Kalaupapa peninsula, separating families and turning illness into exile. Over the next century, nearly 8,000 people were sent there.

This episode follows the law, the fear, the family rupture, and the human cost behind Kalaupapa. It also traces the community people built anyway through care, faith, music, friendship, and endurance. You’ll hear the larger history behind Father Damien, Jonathan Napela, the removal of children from parents, the repeal of forced isolation in 1969, and the descendant-led work to restore names, graves, and family ties today.

Kalaupapa is not just a Hawaii history story. It is a story about stigma, state power, Native Hawaiian loss, survival, and memory. If you’ve searched for Kalaupapa, Molokai history, Father Damien, Hansen’s disease in Hawaii, or the history of Hawaii’s leprosy settlement, this episode goes straight to the heart of it.

Sources:
A Brief History of Kalaupapa — https://www.nps.gov/kala/learn/historyculture/a-brief-history-of-kalaupapa.htm

The History of Hansen’s Disease in Hawaii — https://www.nps.gov/kala/learn/historyculture/hansensdisease.htm

Father Damien — https://www.nps.gov/kala/learn/historyculture/damien.htm

The Kalaupapa Names Project — https://www.kalaupapaohana.org/kalaupapa-names-project

Kalaupapa Month honors settlement’s history and strength of those who were exiled — https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2024-01-17/kalaupapa-month-honors-settlements-history-and-strength-of-those-who-were-exiled

Kalaupapa has thousands of unmarked graves. A proposed memorial would honor all who lived there — https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-conversation/2022-01-06/kalaupapa-has-thousands-of-unmarked-graves-a-proposed-memorial-would-honor-all-who-lived-there

#Kalaupapa #Molokai #HawaiiHistory #HansensDisease #LeprosyHistory #FatherDamien #NativeHawaiianHistory #HistoryPodcast #HawaiiPodcast #BeneathThePalms

Allen Patrick Francisco was 21 years old when he was found dead in the trunk of his own car at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. He had been bound, gagged, blindfolded, and left in one of the busiest places in Hawaii.

But Allen was more than the way he was found.

He was Lico and Solidad Francisco’s son, a brother to seven sisters, a fiancé to Colleen Lincoln, and a young man from North Kukui Street and Mayor Wright Housing whose life was still unfolding. His murder entered Honolulu’s long list of unanswered killings in 1974, then resurfaced more than a decade later through Henry Huihui, a convicted underworld figure whose admission connected Allen’s case to Hawaii’s organized crime era.

In this episode of Beneath the Palms, we follow Allen’s life, the Ala Moana trunk murder, the wider fear around body-in-car cases in 1970s Honolulu, the later Huihui and Gilbert Madrid connection, and the painful truth of a case where an admission did not bring a clean ending.

This episode includes discussion of homicide, organized crime, and violence against a young man. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources:

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Body Found in Car Trunk at Hickam

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Huihui’s Plea Agreement Is Rescinded

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Huihui Agreement Revoked by Judge

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Life sentence is sought for Huihui

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Huihui gets 10 years to life for murder

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Mixing wit with grit, modern-day marshals hunt down the bad guys

Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Star-Advertiser obituary and funeral notices for Allen Patrick Francisco

Palama Settlement Archives, Palama Settlement historical newsletter material

#BeneathThePalms #HawaiiTrueCrime #AllenFrancisco #HonoluluTrueCrime #AlaMoana

A mother traveled to Honolulu to be close to her only son. By the end of February 23, 1994, Toako “Kototome” Fujita and Goro Fujita were dead, two fires had been set, and a Hawaii murder case was beginning to stretch across the Pacific.

This episode of Beneath the Palms revisits the Fujita murders, the killing of a famous Japanese fortune teller and her son, the $20,000 cash request that raised alarm, the burned Ala Moana penthouse, the red Acura found near the Park Shore Hotel in Waikiki, and the evidence that led investigators to Raita Fukusaku.

The case became one of Hawaii’s most unusual international true crime stories. Fukusaku, a Japanese national living in Honolulu, was later extradited from Japan to the United States, convicted in 1995 of two counts of second-degree murder, and sentenced to consecutive life terms. Nearly thirty years later, the case returned to the headlines when Fukusaku was killed inside Halawa Correctional Facility.

This is not a story about spectacle. It is about a mother and son, Toako and Goro, whose lives were much larger than the way they died. We follow the verified record, separate court argument from fact, and keep the human beings at the center of the story.

Sources:

State v. Fukusaku, Supreme Court of Hawaii, 1997

https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/supreme-court/1997/19281-2.html

Inmate Who Murdered Japanese Psychic Is Killed In Attack At Halawa Prison, Honolulu Civil Beat

https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/10/inmate-who-murdered-japanese-psychic-is-killed-in-attack-at-halawa-prison/

An inmate convicted of the 1994 killing of a Japanese psychic was found dead in a Hawaii prison cell, Associated Press

https://apnews.com/article/2d58d6c2fbb8b2053138f4e79b04a235

Fukusaku to remain behind bars until at least 2034, Hawaii News Now

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/21949917/fukusaku-to-remain-behind-bars-until-at-least-2034/

Fujita Background, Honolulu Star-Bulletin clipping via Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-fujita-background/31793407/

Additional archival reporting referenced in the episode came from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Honolulu Advertiser, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, and Associated Press wire coverage from 1994 and 1995.

#BeneathThePalms #HawaiiTrueCrime #HonoluluTrueCrime #FujitaMurders #UnsolvedNoMore

Vesna Young vanished from Miloli'i on Hawaii Island on March 16, 2025, after she was last reported seen near Umi Avenue and her vehicle was later found unattended near Kai Avenue.

But this is not just a story about a missing-person bulletin. Before Vesna became a name in a police release, public traces of her life show a woman rooted in family, bodywork, yoga, music, Alaska, mountains, weather, and the people who loved her. She was remembered as a wife, a mother, a massage therapist, a skier, a singer, and someone whose presence made life feel more alive.

Hawaii Island police publicly asked for help locating Vesna on March 18, 2025, then renewed that request on April 1. The public record remains painfully narrow: she was last seen in Miloli'i at about 3:30 p.m., her unattended vehicle was found around 8:30 p.m. that same evening, and investigators continued asking anyone with information to contact police.

This episode follows the verified record, the public grief that formed around Vesna’s name, and the careful questions still left behind. Where the facts are clear, we stay with them. Where the record thins out, we say so plainly.

If you know something real about Vesna Young’s disappearance, contact the Hawaii Police Department non-emergency number at 808-935-3311 or Detective Joel Furuto with the Area II Criminal Investigation Section.

Sources:

Police Renew Request for Information on Missing Miloli'i Woman Vesna Young

https://www.hawaiipolice.gov/police-renew-request-for-information-on-missing-milolii-woman-vesna-young/

Police Seeking Missing Miloli'i Woman Vesna Young

https://www.hawaiipolice.gov/2025/03/page/3/

Hawaii Island police in search of more information on missing Miloli'i woman

https://bigislandnow.com/2025/04/09/milolii-woman-reported-missing-after-vehicle-found-unattended/

Police Seeking Missing Miloli'i Woman | KWXX

https://www.kwxx.com/2025/03/19/police-seeking-missing-milolii-woman/

Police Seeking Missing Miloli'i Woman | KPUA

https://www.kpua.net/2025/03/19/police-seeking-missing-milolii-woman/

Hawaii island police still searching for missing Miloli'i woman

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/03/23/breaking-news/hawaii-island-police-still-searching-for-missing-miloli%CA%BBi-woman/

BOLO: Missing Hawaiian Woman’s Car Found Abandoned

https://www.crimeonline.com/2025/03/19/bolo-missing-hawaiian-womans-car-found-abandoned/

Support for Vesna Young’s Family

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-vesna-help-her-family-heal

Glacier Creek Massage and Wellness — About

https://www.girdwoodmassage.com/about-2/

Vesna Young SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/vesna-young

Vesna Young YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/jvmovie

Girdwood Massage Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/girdwoodmassage/

Vesna Young Threads

https://www.threads.com/@girdwoodmassage

Alaska Institute remembrance for Vesna Young

https://www.facebook.com/AlaskaInstitute/posts/we-are-very-saddened-to-hear-of-the-passing-of-alumni-vesna-young-she-had-many-f/1208927297902374/

Celebration of Life for Vesna Young

https://allevents.in/girdwood/celebration-of-life-for-vesna-young/200028048781932

Inside the Epidemic of Missing Persons on Hawaii’s Big Island

https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/inside-the-epidemic-of-missing-persons-on-hawaiis-big-island/

HI - Vesna Young, 51, Miloli'i, 16 Mar 2025

https://websleuths.com/threads/hi-vesna-young-51-miloli%E2%80%99i-16-mar-2025.739400/

#VesnaYoung #MissingPerson #Milolii #HawaiiIsland #BigIsland #SouthKona #HawaiiTrueCrime #MissingInHawaii #BeneathThePalms

Elmer Lee Stevens was one of the last people still listed as unaccounted for after the August 8, 2023 Lahaina fire. In this Beneath the Palms episode, we follow the verified record: the shrinking missing list, the search for Elmer, the loss of Tau Tala Tala Ponali, and the court process that followed when his family was left without remains or a final physical answer.

This is a fact-based Hawaii true crime and Lahaina wildfire aftermath story grounded in public reporting. It is also a story about family. Elmer’s six children were not only searching for their missing father. They were also grieving their mother, Tau Ponali, remembered in Lahaina as “Auntie Tala” or “Minister Tala.”

The episode also carefully addresses the unanswered space around Elmer’s disappearance without presenting rumor as fact. The known record shows no evidence that he left Maui, extensive searches produced no remains, and later court proceedings led to a legal declaration of death. What the fire took, it did not fully return.

Sources used in this episode:

Maui Wildfire Disaster Unaccounted For

Investigators spent months searching for a man unaccounted for in Lahaina fire. Now his 6 children are asking the court to declare him deceased

The Lives We Lost: Tau Ponali

Maui police release photos of 6 who remain ‘unaccounted for’ following wildfire

His Life In Lahaina Descended Into Homelessness, Then Death In Fire

Elmer Lee Stevens

Mahalo to Yoza for “Broken Wings.”

#ElmerLeeStevens #LahainaFire #Lahaina #MauiWildfires #MissingPerson #HawaiiTrueCrime #BeneathThePalms