Hawai‘i Island police have forwarded a 2020 Puna murder investigation to the Hawai‘i County Prosecutor’s office for review.

The victim, identified as 35-year-old Albert Aukai Manners, was known to frequent Hilo and Puna.  He was initially reported as a missing person on December 1, 2020, after family members reported not seeing or hearing from him since mid November 2020.

During the course of the investigation, detectives with the Area I Criminal Investigation Section conducted a number of witness interviews and follow-ups. The scene was identified and processed, and items of evidence were recovered and sent to a laboratory for forensic testing. The case was reclassified from a missing person investigation to second-degree murder.

The suspects in Manners’ murder were identified as 44-year-old Kiha Rodney Stone Kaahu, of Leilani Estates, Pahoa, and 42-year-old Olomana Pacad Black, of Ainaloa, in Kurtistown.  

Police ask anyone with information about the case to contact Area I Criminal Investigation Section Detective Blaine Morishita at (808) 961-2385 or via email at Blaine.Morishita@hawaiicounty.gov.