The woman whose relationship with a 27-year-old California man helped precipitate his killing pleaded guilty last year to being part of a drug conspiracy on Maui, according to law enforcement officials.

The woman, whose name has not been made public, was one of 13 people indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to distribute crystal methamphetamine, said the law enforcement officials, who did not want to be identified because the information is part of an ongoing investigation into the fatal shooting.

The woman is a key figure in the slaying of Benjamin Grajeda, who was gunned down in the middle of Kane'ohe Bay Drive on Monday. She worked for two men who have been arrested in connection with the slaying, and she also is the ex-girlfriend of the alleged gunman, police said.

Police said three men barged into Grajeda's Kane'ohe home, threw him in a car and drove away. Grajeda was shot and killed by one of the men after escaping from the car's trunk.

Charged in his murder is Jerrico Dewon Lindsey, 26, described as the woman's ex-boyfriend in court documents. A second man, William Lee Freeman Jr., 35, is charged with kidnapping and hindering prosecution.

Police yesterday said a third man believed to have been with Freeman and Lindsey was picked up by police on Maui yesterday on outstanding arrest warrants. The man, whose name has not been released, is being questioned in connection with the killing but has not been arrested in the case.

Police also said the mother of Grajeda's 5-year-old child is in Honolulu, cooperating with investigators.

The slaying touched off alarm from Kane'ohe to the North Shore, which was the scene of a massive manhunt after the suspects were spotted there. Witnesses to the killing were shocked by the methodical nature of the killer, who was described as firing shot after shot at the victim — at one point starting to walk away but returning to fire more shots after Grajeda seemed to still be alive.

Grajeda's body was riddled with bullets.

In the woman's drug case, a police raid on 11 Maui homes yielded $250,000 in cash and 2 pounds of ice. The 2004 raid capped a 21-month investigation into a drug ring that distributed ice from Mexico on Maui and Lana'i, the sources said. At the time, authorities said the ring had been bringing as much as 20 pounds of ice a month to Maui since November 2000.

The woman pleaded guilty late last year, and this year was sentenced to time served, according to law enforcement officials. The woman's role in the drug sting does not appear to be related to Monday's murder, police said.

The woman was at the Kane'ohe home of Grajeda when three men barged in, grabbed him and threw him into the trunk of a car before driving away. Grajeda's home was at the top of the hill on Pu'uohala'i Place, at the end of a cul-de-sac.

A neighbor who heard a commotion that night said he grabbed a flashlight and went out onto his lanai and saw a white car driving away. Then, he saw a woman come from the shadows. He asked her if everything was OK, but she kept walking, ignoring him, even after he shined his flashlight at her, he said.

Grajeda was gunned down in the middle of Kane'ohe Bay Drive after he kicked the trunk open and tried to escape. He died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen, according to the medical examiner's office.

Lindsey, the alleged shooter, was charged with one count of murder in the second-degree, four firearm offenses and one count of first-degree terroristic threatening. Second-degree murder is punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Lindsey was arrested in September 2000 in Prichard, Ala., in connection with two murders, but charges were dropped, law enforcement officials there confirmed.

According to reports in the Mobile Press-Register, police said in 2000 that the shootings had begun in a parking lot where more than 100 people had gathered for parties along a city street that night.

One of the victims was killed by a 9 mm pistol, and three other people were wounded at that location, according to the Mobile newspaper's account.

The second victim was killed nearby by an AK-47, and the person riding with him was wounded, according to the newspaper's report.

The AK-47 — stolen from a Mobile, Ala., sporting goods company during a 1992 burglary — was found near the site of the shootings at the second location.

According to the Mobile County chief assistant district attorney, Lindsey was arrested by Prichard police on Sept. 3, 2000, on two counts of murder, four counts of first-degree assault and one count each of shooting into an occupied vehicle and receiving stolen property.

However, a District Court judge dismissed all charges against Lindsey a short time later because of a lack of evidence.

Freeman, 35, was charged with kidnapping and hindering prosecution in the Kane'ohe Bay Drive shooting.

Both are being held in lieu of $3 million bail and are set to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.