Hawaii
An eclectic, off-grid Hawaii haven, 3 dead men and a suspect caught on surveillance video
HONOLULU (AP) — For residents of Puna, a remote and eclectic part of Hawaii’s Big Island, the killings of three men known for embracing the community’s off-grid, free-spirited lifestyle became a startling reminder of its struggles too.
Nearly 24 hours after Jacob Baker was arrested, residents were struggling to understand what happened and were eager for answers on why authorities zeroed in on the 36-year-old as their suspect in the killings of the men who were all nearing or in their 70s.
Baker remained jailed on suspicion of murder, burglary and other charges.
Court records show Baker having repeated run-ins with police for a variety of offenses. And people who live in Puna told The Associated Press that their concern about Baker in recent days accelerated, portraying him as increasingly threatening.
Baker is accused of being involved in the deaths of three men: a 69-year-old man found partially submerged in a cement pond, a 79-year-old man who was found just a few hundred feet (meters) away, and a third man, also 69, whose body was found about 19 miles (31 kilometers) away. As of Friday, prosecutors had not yet filed charges.
Police identified the first victim as Robert Shine and the third victim as John Carse. The name of the 79-year-old man was pending positive identification but friends identified him as Chitta Morse.
Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said investigators had not found any connections among the victims, other than two of them lived near each other.
Fixtures at drum circles
Friends of Shine and Morse say the men moved to Puna for its off-grid, tropical and communal lifestyle.
Shine enjoyed dancing and swaying to the beat at drum circles, usually on Sunday afternoons, said Donald Hyatt, a drummer.
Hyatt last saw Shine at a party last month. A local rock-and-roll band was playing and Shine was dancing around.
“He was dancing like he loved life,” Hyatt recalled. “Bob had a permanent smile. Always in good spirits.”
Morse moved from Van Nuys, California 40 years ago “to live off-grid and to live in a warm tropical place, and to eat fruit,” said friend Jezuz Cinderland. “For 40 years he only ate raw food. Since he got to the island he just went completely raw and this was just the right environment for him to do it.”
On land rich with volcanic soil on Papaya Farms Road, Morse had what Cinderland called a “fruit forest,” growing things like coconut, avocado and durian.
“He would just share all the fruit he had,” Cinderland said. “The most fabulous abundance that you can imagine.”
While Morse had previously been a member of the raw-food commune Cinderland moved to Puna to join, in recent years Morse was a loner, Cinderland said.
Shine was a member of Cinderland’s commune, which has been shuttered by the county for various code violations, Cinderland said.
Work-trade life
Janelle Honer, who also grew fruit on Papaya Farms Road, seems to be what connected Baker to the men, who often attended pot luck dinners and parties on Honer’s property.
Baker had been living on Honer’s property in exchange for climbing and trimming coconut trees, her ex-husband, Stephen Shaffer said. Trading work for living accommodations is common in Puna.
Hyatt said Baker left the cabin he was living in on Honer’s property months ago but returned recently claiming “squatter’s rights” and threatened Honer. Hyatt said he urged her to seek a restraining order.
The slayings happened just days after two women requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them at a farm. One woman was staying there and the other co-owned it. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment.
No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.
Honer, who Shaffer said was traveling out of the country, couldn’t be reached for comment.
A memorial for the men was planned for Saturday next to Honer’s place.
Puna is one of the few places in Hawaii where there’s affordable land, and the area’s infrastructure hasn’t kept up with its growth, said Ashley Kierkiewicz, who represents Puna on the county council.
While Puna has a reputation as a quirky frontier, it’s also a place rich in culture where people are resilient and lean on each other, she said.
Puna, with its landscape that’s a mix of lush jungle and barren lava-rock fields, also struggles with drugs, poverty and limited resources, said longtime resident Tiffany Edwards Hunt.
“People have this mistaken impression that they can come to Hawaii and heal,” she said. “Hawaii can either really be kind to you or it can chew you up and spit you out.”
Surveillance cameras aid capture
Mark Wyatt and Richard Valdez played a key role in Baker’s capture, calling the police when their surveillance camera system pinged Valdez’s phone and it showed Baker on their property on Thursday. Their property is about a half-mile from Carse’s home, but they didn’t know him well.
The videos show Baker, shirtless and barefoot, with a dog walking near a road and getting down on the ground as cars went by, in an apparent attempt to avoid being seen.
“He was ducking from the traffic, so it was pretty obvious” that he was trying to avoid being found, Valdez said.
Authorities arrested Baker a short distance away after finding him in a small cave, police said.
Wyatt said he believed Baker had been hiding near his property in a small, makeshift camping spot over a bluff overlooking the ocean. He said Baker stole couch cushions from a container outside his home and some charcoal, and Baker used coconut tree palm fronds to cover the site.
Valdez said he hadn’t seen Baker in about two years. Back then, he said, Baker was living next door to them, renting space from their neighbor while trimming coconuts from trees and selling them just off the area’s main road. He lived next door for about six months, Valdez said.
“He told me he was from Maui and that he had just had a newborn baby and his girlfriend had left and that he was trying to get his life together,” Valdez said. “So he seemed pretty normal and conscientious, so it’s hard to fathom that this happened.”
___
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – It’s shaping up to be a slower-than-usual summer for Hawaii’s tourism industry, but business leaders hope events that market the islands’ unique local food and products can turn that around.
The state expects total visitor arrivals to grow only about 2 percent this year. Numbers slid half a percent in April from the previous year, with the largest market, West Coast tourists, falling nearly 5 percent. The statewide hotel occupancy rate averaged 76.4 percent.
Economists blame higher airfares, rising inflation, fewer international visitors and uncertainty following the March kona low storms.
State-supported events like the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association’s (HLTA) Hawaii Hotel and Restaurant Show and DBEDT’s Hawaii Made Conference aim to boost tourism by promoting products you can only find in Hawaii.
“We’re going to continue to struggle, but we can’t stop promoting. We can’t stop advocating,” said HLTA President/CEO Mufi Hannemann. “If you can travel during these times, you’re going to come and have a wonderful experience in Hawaii whether you’re just coming for sun and surf or you’re coming here to immerse in our culture or to do business, this is the place to come.”
And those who do come are spending more.
At the Hotel and Restaurant Show this week, local food manufacturers hoped to secure more buyers in the hospitality industry.
Many rely on business and leisure visitors trying their products while in Hawaii and taking them back home where they promote it.
“The traceability that you want to know where your food is coming from,” said June Rees, general manager of Kauai Shrimp, which has 40 ponds off the coast of Kekaha. You’ll find their shrimp on many menus across the islands.
“There are a lot of people that heard about us but never tried, so this show gives us exposure to the new restaurant or chef that have heard about the name but never really tried the product.”
But fewer tourists mean less sales and slower business growth and investment.
Jina Wye is the founder of Okonokai, which makes snacks from native seaweed grown off the Kona coast on Hawaii Island.
“It’s like a superfood that everyone should be eating everyday,” she said. “There’s a lot of just missing infrastructure for manufacturing, but that’s something that we’re working on. It’s actually why I’m part of this whole like DBEDT pavilion because the state is really working hard to develop more infrastructure.”
For the family behind Aloha Star Coffee Farm, getting their award-winning premium kona coffee into airports, hotels and restaurants is key.
“Getting the opportunity to find the market niche that we need,” said Karina Rodriguez, co-owner of Aloha Star Coffee. “We are small, that sometimes we don’t have all the resources for marketing and, and going to the biggest stores, and we are working on that.”
Food entrepreneurs will get another chance to promote their products at DBEDT’s Hawaii Made Conference this Tuesday at the Sheraton Waikiki. Click here to register and for more information.
The 16th Hawaii Food & Wine Festival is another event that promotes local chefs and restaurants while promoting tourism. It spans three weekends from Oct. 16 to Nov. 8 across three islands. Find information here.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A piece of equipment designed to provide temporary water access across Oahu is now being targeted by thieves, prompting concerns from officials over rising losses and illegal water use.
The Board of Water Supply rents out temporary meters for construction sites, public events and emergency use when potable water is needed in areas without direct service.
But officials say some of the devices are being stolen despite heavy security measures.
At installation sites, the meters are wrapped in thick steel chains and secured with multiple heavy-duty padlocks to deter tampering and theft.
“For somebody to try and take it, because you saw the chain, it’s the big links. They’re thick links, so you’d have to come with a grinder or an extremely heavy-duty bolt cutter. So it’s not impossible to remove it, but it requires quite a bit of effort to remove it,” said Kathleen Pahinui, public information officer for the Board of Water Supply.
According to the agency, about 22 temporary fire hydrant meters have been illegally removed over the past two and a half years. Eight of those thefts occurred in just the past three months.
Officials say the motive behind the thefts is not confirmed, but potential drivers include scrap value or misuse of the meters to divert water for unauthorized use.
“And we don’t want people basically stealing water because then we all end up paying for that theft,” Pahinui said.
Each temporary meter costs about $3,000 to replace, and the Board of Water Supply says responsibility for protecting the device falls on the permit holder once it is installed.
“The person who has the contract with us has to replace it,” Pahinui said.
State Sen. Brenton Awa said one stolen meter on the North Shore had been serving the Haleiwa Seed Bank, where volunteers are planting coconut and ulu trees for the community.
“We set this up with the Board of Water so that we’re within the rules, we’re paying for the water, for the project, for the community. And then it just wasn’t here one day,” Awa said.
“It’s a piece of metal on the side of the road. Who’s going to steal this thing? But apparently… it’s worth something,” Awa added.
Under Hawaii law, scrap yards are prohibited from purchasing municipal, utility or state owned equipment without proper documentation.
Recyclers say materials commonly found in the meters, including brass and bronze, typically sell for about $2 to $3 per pound depending on grade. While the scrap value is relatively low, companies say functioning used meters can resell for hundreds of dollars.
The Board of Water Supply is urging the public to report any suspicious activity involving temporary meters by calling (808) 748-5000.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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