An Oahu grand jury Wednesday indicted Jesse Lewis Nielsen, 30, on a second-degree murder charge in the Feb. 19 stabbing death of a 63-year-old Kakaako man, Yaohua Yan, employed at the University of Hawaii’s Center for Chinese Studies.

Nielsen, whose bail had been at $1 million, is now being held without bail at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he was already in custody in an unrelated assault case.

If convicted, Nielsen will face a sentence of life without the possibility of parole because the victim was 60 or older, the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office said.

When Yan didn’t show up for work Feb. 20 and 21, his employer at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 21 called Yan’s friend, listed as his emergency contact, according to a police affidavit in support of a criminal complaint charging Nielsen.

The friend did not receive any responses to her texts and calls to Yan, so she contacted staff at his apartment building, Pacifica Honolulu, at 1009 Kapiolani Blvd.

A security guard entered unit 2602 and found Yan lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood.

Police found the handle of a knife near his head, and a blade on the other side of his head.

Yan had stab wounds to his neck, a cut to his left eyebrow, and his two front teeth were missing. Numerous footprints in the blood surrounded the body.

Pacifica staff found Yan used his key fob at 12:58 p.m. Feb. 19. Surveillance video showed he and an unknown male entered the building through the rear door and entered the elevator together. Other surveillance video showed they got out on the 26th floor and walked toward Yan’s apartment.

At 1:23 p.m., a Caucasian male was seen running down the stairwell, exited the building into the ground floor park, and left the park on the Kapiolani Boulevard side.

The detective in the stabbing case learned Nielsen was arrested Feb. 22 at 7:27 a.m. fronting 1561 Kanunu St. for an unrelated assault at the Pagoda Hotel.

He was spotted on surveillance video at 1:57 p.m. at 1560 Kanunu St.

A resident recognized Nielsen, and saw him daily for the past six months.

Nielsen’s relative said Nielsen had been living with him at 1560 Kanunu St.

The relative, K.N., said due to Nielsen’s methamphetamine use, he was acting erratically and hadn’t gone to work in the past week.

K.N. said he asked Nielsen to leave because Nielsen allegedly said he was going to kill K.N.

The relative identified Nielsen from video surveillance at the Pacific and 1560 Kanunu St.

On Feb. 23, police had a search warrant and took Nielsen’s DNA sample from his shoes, a knife identical to the one recovered at the scene, his clothing and backpack in K.N.’s apartment.

Police found Yan’s cellphone in his kitchen, with the last activity showing Feb. 19 was a social media conversation between him and another man, who sent his photo and location on Google Maps, indicating he was at the Pacifica at 12:44 p.m.

A Feb. 22 autopsy concluded Yan died of stab wounds to his neck, and the manner was homicide.

Police input the photo sent to Yan into the Honolulu Police Department’s facial recognition program, and Nielsen appeared as one of the males on a list with similar facial characteristics. Police found he strongly resembled the photo Yan received.

Nielsen’s felony conviction record includes the following:

On May 9, 2022, he attempted to sexually assault his 68-year-old mother, whom he lived with at 725 Kapiolani Blvd., along with his girlfriend. He was convicted Feb. 28, 2023, on second-degree attempted sexual assault, second- degree assault and promotion of methamphetamine.

Nielsen was also convicted in 2016 for first- degree burglary in which the victim was 60 years or older.

In 2015, Nielsen pleaded no contest to assaulting a law enforcement officer, harassment and resisting arrest.