By JOHN BURNETT By JOHN BURNETT ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald staff writer Two cousins from Kurtistown were caught killing a 44-year-old Hawaiian Acres man on video surveillance footage recovered from the victim’s home, according to court documents filed by police. Police say
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Two cousins from Kurtistown were caught killing a 44-year-old Hawaiian Acres man on video surveillance footage recovered from the victim’s home, according to court documents filed by police.
Police say 30-year-old Claude Keone Krause shot Dante Peter Gilman, and his 19-year-old cousin, Kawena K. Krause, then choked the man.
Both Krauses pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in Hilo District Court to charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony. The elder Krause also entered a not guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Judge Harry Freitas set preliminary hearings for both defendants for Thursday at 2 p.m. Both men are being held without bail at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Court-appointed attorneys for the Krauses objected to requests by the Tribune-Herald to photograph court proceedings.
“Mr. Krause’s name and photograph has appeared multiple times in the newspapers within the last week,” said Christopher Bridges, representing Kawena Krause.
“I don’t see how showing him shackled here like an animal will do anything to further the public interest. It would only serve to make it impossible to get a fair jury in this jurisdiction.”
Freitas noted the objections for the record and allowed the media to photograph.
Gilman was reported as missing by police on Jan. 10. A bulletin said he was last seen in Hawaiian Acres “on or about Dec. 30.” Police later reported that they had evidence that Gilman was murdered. The Krauses were later arrested and charged.
Court documents state that police “learned that an altercation took place at the residence of Gilman involving the three suspects, Claude K. Krause, … Kawena Krause and a younger unidentified male who appears to be a minor, who was also present.”
According to the documents, the surveillance footage from Gilman’s Huina Road home “appears to corroborate a confrontation” and shows “a suspect who appears to be Claude K. Krause pointing a rifle at Gilman, subsequently shooting Gilman.”
Police wrote that the video shows “a person who appears to be … Kawena Krause applying a choke hold on Gilman while on the ground until his body goes limp.”
“The video also depicted Gilman’s lifeless body being dragged out of the view of the camera,” documents state.
It’s not known who the minor is or if a third arrest has been made. Arrests of minors are not public information unless the minor is charged as an adult.
Gilman’s body has not yet been found.
Gilman is the son of the late Peter Gilman, a Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter in the 1950s and the author “Diamond Head,” a book that shot to No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List and was made into a 1963 film starring Charleston Heston.
The elder Gilman died in Hilo in 1999 at age 73.
Claude Keone Krause was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the December 2000 sex assault and burglary of the late crime victims’ advocate, Mayapple McCullough, in her Waa Waa home.
Kawena Krause has no prior felony convictions.
Email John Burnett at
jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
