Officer in North Shore murder trial testifies suspect tried to lick blood from hands

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Officers who investigated the brutal North Shore murder of Telma Boinville told jurors Thursday that they found a meat tenderizer next to her body.

The gruesome detail was one of many that came to light as the trial against suspect Stephen Brown continues.

Former girlfriend Hailey Dandurand will be tried separately. The two blame each other for the murder.

On Thursday, the jury in Brown’s case heard from 14 witnesses ― most of them current and former police officers ― as Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell built his case step-by-step.

He detailed the defendants’ arrests and the damning evidence the police collected from them.

Retired Officer Frances Hill was among the first to arrive at the vacation rental on Ke Iki Road, where the murder happened. The crime scene began in the living room and Hill said she saw tools around the body.

Those tools included a meat tenderizer.

“She was on the floor,” Hill said. “She had a bag over her head and her hands were behind her back.”

Hill also said she saw Boinville’s daughter tied and gagged but alive upstairs.

Boinville’s debit card was later found in Dandurand’s hoodie.

Officer David Kaawa was with Dandurand after her arrest when witnesses were identifying her as a passenger in the alleged getaway truck. Brown’s defense attorney William Bagasol asked if she said anything to him.

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“She said something to the effect of, ‘Officer you might as well take your gun out and just shoot me ... after today my life is over,’” Kaawa said.

In opening arguments, Bagasol said Brown had nothing to do with the murder but conceded he and Dandurand were burglarizing the house when Boinville suddenly showed up to clean it.

Both Dandurand ― who was 20 ― and Brown, 23 at the time, had blood from Boinville on them.

Former HPD Officer Christopher Young was tasked with wrapping Brown’s hands in paper bags to preserve the evidence. “He wanted us to let him wash his hands,” Young said. “After that, he said if you are not going to help me I am going to help myself. He began to bite them off with his teeth and he tried to lick the blood off of his hands.”

Brown had to be chased down and tackled after officers spotted him at Town Center of Mililani.

Officer Kendrick Tahara said he delivered several knee kicks to Brown as he and other officers subdued him.

“Mr. Brown was very combative, non-compliant, we gave numerous commands to be compliant at which time we managed to detain him,” Tahara said, adding Brown was also carrying a pocketknife when he was arrested.

The couple was tracked to the center, where they arrived in their wanted Toyota truck with the radio blaring, according to Mackenzie Omalza, who had come to the Mililani Walmart with her mother.

“My mom was saying like, my gosh kids blasting loud music all the time, why?” Omalza said. She was asked by police to confirm if it Dandurand was the passenger in the truck.

The truck was a trove of stolen possessions, including slippers and a backpack belonging to Boinville’s daughter and the family’s camera equipment.

Bell said he expects to wrap up his case Friday with testimony from Boinville’s family.

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