WAIKOLOA — Craig Richard Coley this week celebrated his 71st birthday in Hawaii — his first birthday as a free man after spending nearly 39 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
And he didn’t spend the memorable occasion alone.
Mike Bender, a former police detective who spent 30 years of his life fighting to prove Coley’s innocence, joined Coley on the Big Island. The men also were in the company of Bender’s wife, Cynthia, and their daughters, Mikali and Jaime. Jaime Bender’s husband, Chris, and their daughter, Keira, also were there. They’re Coley’s newfound family.
“I never lost my hope. I knew someday I would be out. I just didn’t know when,” Coley said Thursday while sitting in an oceanfront hotel room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.
According to an April 28 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Coley was arrested in 1978 in Simi Valley, Calif., suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Rhonda Wicht, and her 4-year-old son, Donald.
After two trials, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“People make mistakes — it happens,” Coley said. “It’s too bad it took so long to straighten mine out.”
Coley was an only child. During his incarceration, both of his parents died. Despite the loss of his immediate family, when Coley was released the day before Thanksgiving last year he found a new family and home with the Benders in Carlsbad, Calif.
“Mike worked on my case for 30 years,” Coley said. “He believed no innocent man should be behind bars.”
Coley said Bender is like his brother. Keira, Bender’s 3-year-old granddaughter, is like the granddaughter Coley will never have.
“My hopes and dreams in my earlier life were to have a family with children and grandchildren and provide for them the things that I was never given,” he said. “That was all taken from me, and it’s pretty obvious that I’ll never have that. I just want to be happy and I want to make other people happy.”
The trip to the Big Island was one Coley’s mother hoped to take with him when he was released. The Benders decided to keep that wish, as it was now on Coley’s bucket list.
“I’m gonna live a lot longer than I thought I would, which is fine with me,” Coley said.
The first item on that bucket list was to reconnect with Navy brother and Hilo native Solomon Pakani. The two served together in Vietnam.
“We just hit it off,” Coley said. “We trusted each other.”
Pakani became part of Coley’s family when he spent time with them in port in California. And Coley visited Hawaii and was loved by the Pakanis in return.
“The first time I came to his house they had a party that lasted four days,” Coley recalled Thursday with a laugh.
Pakani didn’t know about Coley’s arrest or conviction until 12 or 13 years into Coley’s prison sentence. He had been writing letters to Coley’s mother and she said nothing about it.
“It was many years before his mother could brave it — before she could tell us,” said Pakani’s wife, Lloydetta. “My husband, from the time he heard about this said: ‘I’ll never believe it till the day I die.’”
After that, the Pakanis wrote to Coley while he was in prison. They found out he was released after a Christmas card they sent last year was returned, saying the inmate was paroled.
Thus began Pakani’s and Coley’s quest to find each other.
Cynthia Bender’s sister, Lori Johnson, reached out to every Pakani on Facebook she could find until she finally found and called Lloydetta Pakani’s number and gave her the news.
“I was hoping we’d be healthy enough to see each other,” Coley said.
On June 3, Coley and the Benders spent time with the Pakani ohana in Hilo. Lloydetta Pakani said it was a moment they wished could last forever.
To Coley’s surprise, Pakani and his wife were at his surprise birthday dinner at Kamuela Provision Company on Thursday evening at the Hilton. As he approached the table on the restaurant’s lanai, he was greeted with “Happy birthday.”
Coley’s face went from surprised to smiles as he and Pakani embraced.
The only word Pakani could find to describe the reconnection with his dear friend was “Wow.”
“I’m grateful that he’s here,” Pakani said standing next to Coley. “It’s not the end.”
Bender and his wife couldn’t imagine Coley not in their lives. He’s been a part of their family since before he was released.
Through the years, Bender visited Coley in prison as he worked to reopen Coley’s case and get him pardoned. According to the Union-Tribune, California Gov. Jerry Brown exonerated Coley, clearing his record, citing new DNA and investigative evidence in the murders.
“You call them career cases,” Bender said. “I always would’ve been disappointed if I had never gotten him out.”
Bender said he tried desperately to get Coley released before his mother died in 2011, but the right people weren’t in place to make it happen.
After his tireless efforts, Bender could only say Thursday that it was awesome.
“He’s touched a lot of people and given a lot of people hope,” Bender said of Coley.
While Coley was released, the former detective said, a wound was reopened for the Wicht family as there is no justice or closure for their loved ones. However, Bender added he is confident the case will be resolved.
“It’s not a cold case,” he said. “It’ll be solved.”
As Coley looks forward to the life he has now, he does so with humility and faith.
“Rather than say ‘Why me?’ you pick yourself up and move on,” Coley said.
Part of Coley’s bucket list is to travel, buy a house, get a driver’s license and get a dog. He’s done most of those things.
Coley purchased a home about 5 miles away from the Benders.
“He’s not quite ready to go on his own, but this trip has really helped,” Cynthia Bender said.
As Coley continues to settle into the 21st century world, he’s had help from people around the globe, whether it was through a financial donation or a kind message.
Days before his release, Bender created a Go Fund Me account to get the Coley started financially as he awaits a $1.9 million settlement from the state.
With a goal of $100,000, people around the world have raised $77,025 for Coley’s new life. There are many messages of support and nothing but well-wishes for Coley and admiration for him and the Bender family.
“People have been so gracious. It really renewed my faith in manhood,” Coley said.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.