A 33-year-old Pahoa man accused of killing an elderly neighbor with a bow-and-arrow admitted the crime to both his brother-in-law and police, according to court documents.
Cameron Stewart is charged with second-degree murder for the June 29 slaying of Charles Hacker, who lived across Kawakawa Street from Stewart in Hawaiian Shores subdivision, and whose age has been listed as 86 and 87 in police media releases.
Documents state Hacker’s son-in-law, Rodney Eisenhour, told police he last saw Hacker alive at about 9:45 a.m. that day in back of the house.
Eisenhour didn’t see Hacker at about 10 a.m., so he checked the front of the residence and saw Hacker slumped over in his wheelchair, with blood coming from his father-in-law’s mouth, prompting Eisenhour to call 911 and to start CPR on the wounded man.
When police and medical personnel arrived, officers saw an approximately “1.5 inch penetrating type wound” on the left side of Hacker’s neck near the collarbone, according to documents.
Hacker was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:55 p.m.
Stewart’s 31-year-old brother-in-law, Brian Moody, told officers he arrived at Stewart’s home at about 10:10 a.m. and asked him how he was doing, according to police.
Moody told police Stewart replied, “Not good. I killed him. Shot him with a bow-and-arrow,” according to documents.
Another neighbor was shown a photographic lineup and identified Stewart as a man who approached her and asked if he could shoot cats with his bow-and-arrow.
Officers found Stewart inside his home and arrested him without incident, according to documents. Officer allegedly saw a large wooden bow-and-arrow in the home through an open bedroom window.
According to documents, as officers transported Stewart to Hilo Police Station for processing, he asked, “What’s the name of the man I killed?”
A search warrant was executed on Stewart’s home, and officers recovered a recurve bow, numerous arrows, arrow tips, a quiver and an archery case with the travel tag “Cameron Stewart,” documents state.
One of the arrows, according to documents, tested positive for blood about 10 inches from the tip.
An autopsy performed on Hacker’s body at Hilo Medical Center found that his wound was about 10.5 inches deep from front to back and hit the right lung and right rib cage, documents state.
At Stewart’s initial court appearance Tuesday, his Honolulu-based defense counsel David Hendrickson requested and was granted a mental examination for Stewart. Hendrickson also requested the examination be performed at Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe, Oahu.
That motion was denied without prejudice by Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk, which means Hendrickson is free to make the request again.
Hawk also granted Hendrickson’s request for Stewart to make his court appearance in civilian clothes for District Court appearances only.
“Being presented to the public by the media in an orange jumpsuit or any other pretrial detainee uniform presents the image of a ‘criminal,’” Hendrickson said in a written motion. “This image will be presented to the citizens of the Island of Hawaii and will bias potential jurors in defendant’s case. Defendant has been charged with one of the most serious crimes according to Hawaii law. Due process requires that defendant be permitted to wear civilian clothing if images of his person will be distributed in connection with this charge.”
Hawk ordered Stewart to return to court on Aug. 23 and maintained his bail at $1 million.
Stewart remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.