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."
Beverly Shimabukuro will be sentenced to four years’ probation in December, and Circuit Judge Ronald Johnson released her Friday to the custody of her younger brother, the first time in six months she was free. Read more
Beverly Shimabukuro, a retired longtime Pagoda Restaurant waitress, accepted a plea agreement offered by Deputy Prosecutor Hon-Lum Cheung-Cheng, which her attorney Christian Enright initiated. Read more
Circuit Judge Shanlyn Park prefaced her sentencing of a Honolulu police sergeant’s son, convicted of murdering 18-year-old Haaheo Kolona on Round Top Drive, with empathy for Kolona’s mother, saying that as a mother she can understand. Read more
Circuit Judge Shanlyn Park denied the state’s motion for extended sentencing, which would have meant life without the possibility of parole. Read more
A GoFundMe account has been set up for donations to help the family of Zoey Suyun He, who was killed Aug. 9 — four days before her 26th birthday — in her boyfriend’s Seattle townhouse. Read more
A 25-year-old former Hawaii man has been charged with first-degree murder in last weekend’s grisly killing of his girlfriend, Zoey He, also 25, who was visiting him in Seattle from Honolulu. Read more
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A Honolulu District Court judge Tuesday dismissed the 2023 criminal case against former Maui state Rep. Kaniela Ing, who pleaded no contest to not filing timely campaign spending reports. Read more
A 28-year-old Kapalama man is headed for trial on two somewhat similar sexual assault cases involving two girls, ages 13 and 14, he met online. Read more
Kai Kahele appears to have won the Hawaii island resident trustee race, capturing more than half of the vote at 56.71%. Read more
The state Department of Education says 2,400 public school students will remain without bus service even after 34 of the 147 suspended school bus routes are reinstated Monday. Read more
Kauai Fire Department investigators suspect arson as the cause of two recent brush fires, including last week’s Kokee blaze on Pokii Ridge, which burned an estimated 1,600 acres and triggered evacuations and road closures. Read more
A suspect in three bank robberies with a lengthy criminal record was shot and killed by police at 4 a.m. Friday after an hours-long standoff. Read more
Scott David DeAngelo, who in 2022 escaped by jumping from a burning fourth-floor Pearl City apartment that he set on fire after fatally stabbing his roommate in the neck, has now escaped a possible sentence of life without parole. Read more
The sentences will run concurrently and not consecutively as Deputy Prosecutor Kyle Mesa had asked the court to do to protect the public. Read more
Circuit Judge Ronald Johnson sentenced a Honolulu police officer today to community service and a deferral of his no contest plea for committing insurance fraud, a Class C felony. Read more
Circuit Judge Shanlyn Park expressed sympathy Tuesday not just for the 45-year-old murder victim and his family, but for the 25-year-old Wahiawa man she was sending to prison for life with the possibility of parole in the Nov. 19, 2019, fatal stabbing of a family friend. Read more
The body of one person who had been aboard the four-seater Robinson R44 helicopter owned by Aloha Helicopter Tours LLC was found by Kauai Ocean Safety lifeguards. Read more
Police would not identify which of the three individuals was found Thursday. Read more
Abigail Charity Bernstein and her two young sons reportedly boarded a boat with its captain in October 2022 at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor and have never been seen or heard from since, the FBI says. Read more
A former Oahu schoolteacher — initially discovered by FBI agents to be exchanging messages containing child pornography with a Philadelphia teacher — was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old former student and promoting child abuse. Read more
Hawaii County officials have designated a parking lot as a temporary resting area for homeless people who occupy an area in and around a storm drain in downtown Hilo. Read more
