The fiancee of a man murdered last month in a brazen daylight shooting in the Punahou area made a public plea yesterday for witnesses to come forward.

Sandra Pratt, whose 31-year-old fiance, Jason Nam, was fatally shot March 10, described him as a motivator and a loving man. The couple were together for 14 years and were high school sweethearts.

"We love Jason very much and we're all shocked over his death," said Pratt, sobbing while flanked by more than a dozen family members. "He had a vibrant and happy spirit, and I love him very much. I miss everything about him. He was my first true love."

The couple had planned to wed and had discussed starting a family, she said.

Police have interviewed more than a dozen friends and relatives but have not found a motive, or the identities of three men who beat and shot Jason Nam to death, police said.

Searches of Nam's apartment and car did not turn up anything that might suggest why anyone would want him dead, police said.

At 4 p.m. March 10, three men pulled up in a black Nissan Maxima at the apartment building at 1709 S. Beretania St., where Nam was cleaning his car in the building's parking lot.

After a brief argument and a struggle, one of the assailants hit Nam with a bat, and the others dragged him behind his car, where Nam was shot in the neck. No clear description of the suspects has emerged since all three wore black hoods and red bandannas over their faces.

"Jason wasn't just a person cleaning his car, he was loved, he had a family," said police Sgt. Kim Capllonch. "It's unusual. We don't really have these types of shootings at 4 in the afternoon."

One of the masked men who was in the black Maxima apparently contacted police homicide investigators, she said. Police are asking that the man call back.

Police are asking that anyone with information about this case call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on a cell phone.

Nam was a delivery truck driver for Govinda's Fresh Juices. He was a 1992 graduate of Kalani High School and the older brother of mixed martial artist Tyson Nam.

Jason Nam took first place in the men's middleweight novice division at the 1997 Hawaiian Classic Bodybuilding Competition.

He is survived by his parents, Michael and Alicia Nam; brothers, Aaron and Tyson Nam; and grandmothers, Margaret Nam and Mary Sayson.

A memorial service will be held Saturday at Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary in Kane'ohe. Visitation is at 9:30 a.m., followed by the service at 11:30 a.m., a reception at 12:30 p.m. and burial at 2 p.m.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.