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Many Mourning Death of Toddler

By Minna Sugimoto

HONOLULU (KHNL) -- A makeshift memorial grows at the scene of the tragedy.

Family, friends and complete strangers are mourning the death of the toddler, who was thrown off an overpass onto the H-1 freeway Thursday.

As you drive on the H-1 and approach the Miller Street pedestrian overpass, you can see the balloons and flowers left in memory of the boy, who was just shy of two years old.

Kunio Honda didn't know the toddler who fell to his death on the H-1 Freeway Thursday. But he and many others in his shoes leave flowers, toys and handwritten messages for the tiny victim.

"Why did you come here today?"

"Oh, (breaks down)."

Police say Cyrus Bell was one year and 11 months old, When his neighbor tossed him off the Miller Street overpass in front of horrified witnesses.

"He's a loving boy. He's my nephew," said Ron Asiata, the victim's uncle.  "I love him with all my heart. And he was killed in a violent death. I'm really upset about it."

Officers caught 23-year-old Matthew Higa nearby, and arrested him on suspicion of murder.

His neighbor calls him a loner.

"I always thought he was a little, a little touched, you know, a little messed up in the head," said Roy Seminuk the suspect's neighbor.

He says the suspect moved into this apartment a few months ago. The toddler lived one floor below.

Seminuk was there, when the boy's mother received the devastating news.

"She just screamed and screamed, fell down, fell down to the floor screaming. And it was so heart-breaking to see that."

People who knew Cyrus describe him as a happy kid.

"He said hi to me. Oh hi. But he was just a happy little, happy go lucky little kid," Seminuk added.

The suspect, who was also arrested on four outstanding warrants, is awaiting charges at the main police cellblock.