Kahului woman had restraining order against alleged killer

A 41-year-old Kahului man was charged with murder today for allegedly stabbing his 43-year-old former girlfriend to death while he was out on bail awaiting trial on charges he beat her up in October.

Danny Gabriel Freitas remains in custody at the Maui Police Department and is being held without bail.

The woman, identified Wednesday as Janinekara Sturgeon of Kahului, was found stabbed to death after Freitas allegedly told his therapist he killed someone.

Sturgeon had a protective order against Freitas following his domestic violence arrest in October and noted that Freitas had “relapsed” into a methamphetamine addiction in September.

“The investigation has been reclassified as a murder in the first degree investigation by the Maui Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division,” read a statement from MPD.

Freitas was free on $5,000 bond posted Dec. 10, according to state court records. Freitas was charged Oct. 23 with two counts of felony abuse of a household member and doing so in the presence of a minor under the age of 14, Sturgeon’s daughter.

Freitas “intentionally or knowingly causing bodily” injury by impeding Sturgeon’s normal breathing or circulation of the blood by “applying pressure on the throat or the neck.” Freitas did it in front of a “minor female born in 2011,” according to state court records.

In her petition for a temporary restraining order, Sturgeon wrote that Freitas had been arrested near her complex after he called her and told her he was watching her house and to call the police.

On one occasion he allegedly threw a beer bottle at her face and busted her lip.

In June, Freitas “broke everything” in Sturgeon’s house, she wrote, including dishes, her phone, bedroom door, vape, and punched holes in her wall.

On Oct. 20, Sturgeon said, she woke up at 6 a.m.to find Freitas in her bedroom.

“He had something wrapped around his face and began accusing me of having someone in my bed with me. He then tried to steal my phone. I followed him out to the living room where he had brought another man into my house. I did not know this person. My 13-year-old daughter was asleep in my bed. I kicked them both out of my house,” wrote Sturgeon. “When I tried to get my house key back, I yelled (get) out Danny! And he rushed at me. Forced me back into the house and shoved me against the wall by my neck. I could not breath or yell for help. He continued holding me by my throat as he pushed me down onto the couch. I kicked him of of me and my daughter heard this commotion and woke up screaming and called the Police.”

Sturgeon detailed other incidents leading to Freitas getting arrested but she dropped the charges because she “felt bad for him.”

At about 11:03 am Wednesday, MPD received a 911 call from a caller who “stated that a former client, a 41-year-old Kahului male, came to their office and said he killed someone before he departed.”

MPD officers checked Freitas’ house at 111 Kahului Beach Road, and found Sturgeon’s body.

“No life-saving measures were performed as it was determined the female was deceased,” according to MPD.

At 2:35 p.m., after a brief search Freitas was found in Hoaloha Park in Kahului, where he was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder.