Big Island police conclude probe into shooting death of Puna woman
By John Burnett
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
HILO — Hawaii County police say they've wrapped up their investigation into a Puna woman's slaying and have turned it over to prosecutors.
Capt. Randall Medeiros of the Criminal Investigation Division said Friday police believe they know who killed 21-year-old Kaycee Maile Smith and why.
"All I can say is that we've identified a suspect, completed our investigation and submitted it to prosecutors for their review and a decision on charging," Medeiros said.
Asked about a motive, Medeiros said: "We've identified a motive. Although it's not required for our investigations, we've identified one."
Prosecutors now have the options of further investigation or taking the police's case "as is" to a grand jury for a possible indictment against the suspect. Medeiros did not disclose either the identity of the suspect or the suspected motive.
Smith, a 2005 Kamehameha Schools Kapalama graduate and rodeo contestant known as "Bug," was found dead of a single gunshot wound in the living room of her Orchidland Estates home the morning of June 30. A handgun, later identified as the murder weapon, was found near the body. Police say the scene had been manipulated to make the death look like a suicide.
Police didn't disclose a motive for Smith's killing, but revenge and money are possibilities. Police believe Smith's late father, Noel "Bear" Smith, shot Jeremy Napoleon, 28, to death on June 19, 2007, in the yard of Napoleon's Hawaiian Paradise Park home.
The 45-year-old Noel Smith died about three hours after the shooting, when his 2007 Dodge pickup ran off Akoni Pule Highway in North Kohala and crashed into an embankment.
Al Cabral, president of the Hawaii Horse Owners Association, told the Tribune-Herald in July that Kaycee Smith and her older sister Shelly, who lives in Colorado, inherited a considerable sum of money after their father's death.
Efforts by the Tribune-Herald to contact relatives of Kaycee Smith have so far failed.