She has been reporting professionally for more than 20 years beginning in October 1999 with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. She was retained by its new owner in 2001 and again when the newspaper merged into the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2010.
Earlier in her career, a Feb. 10, 2001 article titled, "I want to tell my parents I am alive," got national and international attention with the first interview of anyone who had been aboard the Ehime Maru. The New York Times used quotes she obtained from a 16-year-old student who survived the sinking of the Japanese fishing vessel by a U.S. Navy submarine, and gave a nod to the Star-Bulletin. The Toronto Star ran the story. Fujimori also shared a 2004 Society of Professional Journalists award with two colleagues for a breaking news story, "1 dead/Cop Shot."
Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, volunteering to protect native forests, beekeeping, farming, traveling, singing and spending time with her "dogter."
The 25-year-old Colombian man who took a plea deal March 18 in the murder of a 73-year-old man in his luxury Hawaii Loa Ridge house says his then- attorneys told him that if he didn’t take the deal, he would die in prison. Read more
The 17-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His jury trial is set for Dec. 2. Read more
The one-time Big Island farm girl pushed her parents to send her to college, married, flourished as a restaurateur and businesswoman in Chicago and Hawaii, and became a first-time mother at age 56. Read more
The two Hawaii schools were among the 356 schools across the country to receive the honor, announced Monday by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Read more
Patoc was tried on charges of first-degree attempted murder, resisting an order to stop and first- degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle for jumping into the officer’s subsidized vehicle and fleeing along the North Shore to Wahiawa and ending up at Iolani Palace, where he was arrested. Read more
Tuesday’s hearing of a 25-year-old Colombian man’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2022 strangulation death of Gary Ruby, a 73-year-old Hawaii Loa Ridge man, was postponed because he objected to the Spanish-language interpreter assigned to cover the hearing. Read more
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The lawyer for Juan Baron, 25, has filed a motion to withdraw his client’s guilty plea in the murder of Gary Ruby, whose body was found in a cement-filled bathtub. Read more
A one-hour paid television program, “The New Hurricane Threat for Hawaii,” will air Thursday and Saturday and feature local experts on why Hawaii is increasingly vulnerable to hurricanes and warn of its dire impacts on its people. Read more
Ilya and Sophia Tsaruk were vacationing on Maui from Washington state when they apparently drowned Saturday while swimming and possibly snorkeling in waters off the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve in the southwest corner of Maui. Read more
EMS treated four flight attendants, ages 28, 31, 53 and 59, at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu and took them in stable condition to a hospital. Read more
Brothers Albert Ian and Shawn Schweitzer want a declaration of innocence to allow them to receive compensation for being wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, attorneys say. Read more
An Oahu Circuit Court judge Tuesday ordered that an 83-year-old Oxnard, Calif., man, accused in the 2022 bludgeoning death of his 76-year-old estranged wife in her Ala Moana apartment, undergo a neuropsychological evaluation to determine whether he has a mental health issue or a cognitive problem. Read more
The man was arrested on “suspicion of disorderly conduct and prohibited fireworks,” according to a Honolulu Police Department spokesperson. Read more
The suspect is described as in his 30s, with a medium build, brown hair, wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt and black sweatshorts. Read more
Police said the suspect was identified by a witness and officers arrested him at 12:11 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder. Read more
The Federal Aviation Administration’s records show that ownership registration was pending for the Cessna that crash-landed Wednesday close to the Upolu Airport near Hawi on Hawaii island’s North Kohala coast. Read more
The crash occurred shortly before 11 a.m. today just south of Upolu Point runway, according to the fire department’s press release. Read more
A 21-year-old man, who was on probation and was wanted on a $500,000 warrant of arrest for first-degree reckless endangering and a firearm charge, surrendered at about 4 p.m. today at police headquarters. Read more
The CrimeStoppers bulletin includes a clear photo of a male wearing a blue baseball cap a blue shirt or jacket and a black and gray backpack. Read more
A 28-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier, who is the husband of a missing 19-year-old pregnant woman, is facing three charges, the U.S. Army in Hawaii announced Tuesday in a news release. Read more
Pvt. 1st Class Dewayne Arthur Johnson II is in military custody awaiting a preliminary hearing, which is held before charges can be referred for trial by general court-martial pursuant to Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Read more
