The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office on Thursday identified the man killed in a fiery crash near the North Shore last week as Eric Filiaga, 37, of Honolulu.
Police said they believe that before Filiaga died he killed his 30-year-old wife, Sheryll Mae Filiaga, in her Young Street apartment.
Filiaga, whose anger management problems have been detailed in court documents, crashed a white Nissan SUV into a utility pole while cutting in and out of traffic on Kamehameha Highway on May 19. The SUV, which police said was registered to his wife, landed in a pineapple field in the Helemano area and burst into flames. Filiaga was burned beyond recognition.
Two days later police conducted a welfare check at Sheryll Mae Filiaga’s apartment and found her dead. The medical examiner said she bled to death from cuts to her neck and also had stab wounds to her body.
Police classified her death a second-degree murder and said they are not looking for any suspects.
Friends said Sheryll Filiaga, who was born in the Philippines, was a hardworking, dependable, caring and quiet person who worked at Hawaii 5-0 Vacation Rentals and was co-owner of Maui-based Opihi Love Wedding & Event Design. Her business partner, Melissa Padilla, said Filiaga adored her husband, Eric.
Padilla said Filiaga found a passion for weddings while planning her own in February 2013.
Court records show the Filiagas, who were married in 2008, divorced in January 2013. Those documents said Eric Filiaga was born in American Samoa and was unemployed.
Sheryll Filiaga’s friends said they didn’t know about the divorce and said Filiaga never disclosed any trouble in her marriage.
Family members of Eric Filiaga said after the crash that they had been trying to reach him for weeks.
Court documents detailed Filiaga’s tendency to become violent. In 2000 he was convicted of two counts of abuse for punching his mother and sister in the face and head during an argument.
In 2004 his first wife divorced him because, she wrote, Filiaga was "abusive, not in love, bad temper."
His ex-wife won full custody of their 6-year-old son in 2005 because of Filiaga’s temper. In court documents she wrote that Filiaga was "violent around our child and cannot control his temper."
Other custody documents detail Filiaga’s "history of violence."
"He has went to anger management, but it has not helped him because he is not willing to change," his ex-wife wrote in 2005.