A man rummaging through the charred remains of a Pearl City bedroom a day after a fire killed a 97-year-old occupant left when confronted by a neighbor.
But not before the neighbor took note of his license plate, according to a police affidavit filed in Honolulu District Court.
The neighbor, Francis Infante, told police that he saw the suspect leave his car parked in front of the house at 1888 Hoomalolo St. at 6:25 a.m. March 31 and walk into the burned structure carrying a backpack. Infante shouted to the suspect that he had called the police and then confronted him.
The intruder responded that he was "looking for something," then left.
After running the suspect’s license plates through the motor vehicle registration system, police discovered that it was registered to Michael P. Dahilig of Ewa Beach, court documents said.
Dahilig is accused of several burglaries and of setting a fire that killed 97-year-old Betty Hagihara on March 30. He was charged with first-degree arson, manslaughter, three counts of first-degree burglary and one count each of attempted burglary, promoting a dangerous drug and drug paraphernalia. He remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.
On Monday, District Judge Leslie Hayashi set Dahilig’s preliminary hearing for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
According to the police affidavit, Infante identified Dahilig from a photo lineup. Police said they also learned from anonymous tipsters that Dahilig had tattoos identical to those on a burglar caught in video surveillance footage taken by another neighbor, Kevin Izumi, on Sept. 20.
IZUMI, who lives at 1927 Hoomalolo St., installed the surveillance system after his home was broken into Sept. 15. Izumi told police that his house had been burglarized several times since September. The most recent burglary occurred March 8.
Izumi’s surveillance system captured video images of a man in his garage area with a T-shirt draped around his head. The video shows the suspect with a shirt covering his face and tattoos on his uncovered body and arms.
After the March 30 fire, CrimeStoppers released the video surveillance, and law enforcement officials received several tips, including one that said Dahilig has a prison gang tattoo, which says "La Familia," on his back.
Police located Dahilig in Ewa Beach on April 3. Police said Dahilig tried to run from officers and attempted to dump drugs and drug paraphernalia. Detectives arrested him on suspicion of arson and manslaughter after interviewing him.
Neighbor Gary Ontai told reporters March 30 that one of the three occupants of the three-bedroom house, Ronald Kawakami, said he thought that burglars used a blowtorch to cut a lock to his shed at the back of the house at 1888 Hoomalolo St. to get at his radio-controlled model plane collection. Kawakami said his home had been burglarized at least seven times.
Five days before the fire, three locks had been placed on a the shed after someone tried to burn through a lock. The shed housed gardening tools and expensive radio-controlled model airplanes.
Hagihara’s body was found in the middle bedroom along with one of six cats that lived in the home. She was Kawakami’s mother.
Dahilig has eight convictions in Hawaii, including three for burglary, one for robbery and two for drug offenses, according to court records. He was sentenced in 2003 to two concurrent 10-year prison terms for two burglaries.
