A Utah man, 66-year-old Gideon Castro, was arrested and charged with the murder of 16-year-old Dawn Momohara 30 years after the homicide, authorities say.
In March 1977, the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) found Momohara’s body laid on her back, which had been partially clothed, at McKinley High School in Honolulu, according to KHON2. Furthermore, authorities discovered an orange cloth wrapped around her neck with an autopsy report that showed Momohara's cause of death was due to strangulation. Investigators retrieved some bodily fluid from the victim’s body and preserved it.
During the investigation, authorities had interviewed several people, including Castro, who claimed he knew the victim from a school dance. At the time, a man told police officers he and his girlfriend had seen an Asian-looking man exiting the ground-floor staircase entrance at the high school at night. The witnesses described the suspect as a late teen with his hair combed backward, driving a two-toned two-door vehicle.
Despite several manhours and prospective leads, authorities hit a brick wall, and the case went cold.
In 2019, a DNA profile was developed by the HPD Forensics lab, which identified the defendant and his brother four years later as possible suspects. However, Castro was a direct match after investigators compared the profile with the defendant’s brother’s child, therefore excluding the defendant’s brother.
Castro is charged with second-degree murder and is currently awaiting extradition to Honolulu, reported Hawaii News Now.
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