A Honolulu Circuit Court judge dismissed the charge of second-degree murder against an 84-year-old California man in the October 2022 bludgeoning death of his 76-year-old estranged wife, Teresita “Tessie” Canilao, longtime secretary at the Philippine Consulate in Honolulu.
Judge Ronald Johnson
ordered the dismissal Tuesday after reviewing the reports by four mental health professionals and finding Rogelio Guevarra Canilao “unfit to proceed and will probably remain unfit to proceed” to trial.
The judge also found that the Oxnard, Calif., man is mentally ill, is “imminently dangerous to self and others, and in need of care and treatment and there is no suitable alternative available through existing facilities and programs which would be less restrictive than
hospitalization.”
Canilao had already been under the custody of the state Director of Health, and will remain so at the Hawaii State Hospital.
Deputy Public Defender Sat Freedman made a motion to have the reports sealed as they contain personal, confidential information, medical and mental health as well as law enforcement information. The judge ordered them sealed.
The then-81-year-old allegedly beat his wife with a wooden stool in her Honolulu apartment, and was arrested Oct. 6, 2022. He was initially held in lieu of $1 million bail, then held without bail at the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Canilao, whose socks were soaked in blood, his chest and legs spattered by blood, told responding
officers, “I murdered my wife,” according to court documents.
She was found on the floor of her Sheridan Street apartment, unresponsive, covered in blood.
Tessie Canilao was well-known among the local Filipino community for her work with the Philippine Consulate since the 1980s.
At the time of Canilao’s death, state Sen. Bennette Misalucha (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea) said Canilao provided valuable insight to the consuls general and their staff, “who rotate in and out of Honolulu and are now posted around the world, so her influence has been pervasive.”
She said Canilao, a mother of two daughters and a grandmother, was “gentle, soft-spoken, very kind, with a very refined
demeanor.”
The couple was estranged for many years, and Rogelio Canilao was visiting from California at the time, Misalucha said.
Tessie Canilao had filed for divorce in 1981, but the case was terminated.
Misalucha said she did not go through with it because she was a devout Roman Catholic.
Freedman initially raised the issue of fitness in January 2023.
Judge Rowena Somerville ordered the defense’s retained expert to perform a mental examination. Rogelio Canilao was found unfit to proceed.
He was transferred to the Hawaii State Hospital after being found unfit Sept. 10 and proceedings were
suspended.
On Sept. 19, Johnson ordered the 83-year-old to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation to determine whether he has a mental health issue or a cognitive problem.
