A 72-year-old man already serving a prison term for murder was indicted by a Hawaii island grand jury Wednesday on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the 1978 slaying of a visiting California woman.
Steven Ray Simpson is accused of killing 26-year-old Valerie Ann Warshay, whose body was found April 23, 1978, at Harry K. Brown Park in Kalapana. She had been on the island for a few weeks at the time of her death, county authorities said.
“Obtaining this indictment is the first step to seeking justice for Valerie Warshay and her family and holding the alleged suspect accountable for Valerie’s death,” Hawaii County Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen said. “We hope that the filing of these charges brings the Warshay family some closure.”
The Department of Public Safety arrested Simpson on the indictment warrant at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he is serving a life sentence for the Dec. 11, 1978, strangulation death of Mary Catherine Drapp, whose body was found in a field of tall grass in the Fern Forest subdivision in Puna.
Simpson was found guilty of her murder Dec. 4, 1979, and sentenced Feb. 25, 1980.
His bail in the Warshay case was set at $250,000. Further details on the killing were not provided.
Drapp’s yellow Triumph vehicle was seen parked in Fern Forest on Dec. 10 and 11, 1978, according to court documents. Simpson told a fellow inmate that he had met the victim at a health food store and had made advances toward her but was rejected. He said Drapp later had car trouble at the airport and that he had sex with her.
Drapp’s body was found 45 feet from her car and a knife similar to one Simpson owned was recovered near her body, along with a pair of panties with semen stains and pubic hair matching Simpson’s.
The victim’s hair was found at Simpson’s home and two towels also linked him to her car. Blood and semen stains were found on various items as well.
In January 1979, Simpson, then 28, was a fugitive living on Hawaii island, wanted by authorities in his home state of Washington for a parole violation. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported he was caught and readied for extradition before he was found guilty of Drapp’s murder.
Waltjen recognized the work of Hawaii Police Department Detective Derek Morimoto, Lt. Rio Amon-Wilkins and the retired police officers who played a role in the initial investigation, along with Deputy Prosecutor Annaliese Wolf, who leads cold case prosecutions.
Wolf credited Morimoto, who has been working on the Warshay investigation for six years, for his “amazing piece of work” in helping to build the case against Simpson. He found witnesses from 1978 still living on the island as well as those who had moved to the mainland, she said.
Morimoto also talked to police officers “who had boots on the ground” and worked on the case in 1978, Wolf said. One of them was the main detective, John Kalawe, who had a “crystal clear memory” of the investigation before he died in 2020.
Police are asking anyone who encountered Warshay during her stay on the island or who may have information about her death to contact Morimoto at 808-961-2380 or email Derek.Morimoto@hawaiicounty.gov, or call the police department’s nonemergency line at 808-935-3311.
