Serial Killer Beneath the Palms: The Honolulu Strangler

Join us as we journey across the Pacific to explore Hawaii’s first known serial killer: the Honolulu Strangler. Between 1985 and 1986, five women were found murdered—each victim carefully left behind as if to be found, their cases forever linked by eerie similarities and unanswered questions.  If you or someone you know lived on Oahu during this time, we want to hear from you. 

Season 1 Episode 4 - Serial Killer Beneath the Palms: The Honolulu Strangler from California Crime with Amy Jean, a true crime podcast based out of California.

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Transcript

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A call comes into the Honolulu Police Department from a man who reports he has found bones on Sand Island, a small piece of land nestled in Honolulu Harbor. Police arrive on scene and the caller guides them to the location of the bones. Upon investigation, police determine that the bones are not human, they're actually from a pig. But while police are still at the scene, a couple, 75 yards away, make a gruesome discovery. Human remains of a woman who has been missing for six days. A woman police believe to be the fifth victim of Hawaii's first serial killer. This is the case of the Honolulu Strangler. Welcome. This is California Crime with Amy Jean. I'm your host out of California, Amy Jean. On this podcast, we will be covering true crime stories bi-weekly. In this special summer edition, we will be covering one of the world's most favorite vacation destinations, Honolulu, Hawaii. Earlier, I showed you an unbelievable coincidence. Police already on scene during the discovery of a body. But now I will give you a personal story of something I went through while living in Hawaii. This was years ago. I was 21 at the time and living alone because my ex was in the Navy on deployment. It was a bright, golden, sunny day, like all days in Hawaii, and I was on my laptop in my bedroom. Suddenly, I heard what I thought was my front door opening in the living room. I quickly left the bedroom and went down the hall and stopped dead in my tracks. A man in his late 20s or early 30s, wearing a dark-colored tank top with shorts and swim trunks, flip-flops, and a backwards baseball cap, was standing in my living room staring at me. I'll never forget the absolute look of determination on his face. He actually scared me so much that when I saw him, I jumped before just standing there, frozen in front of him. Before he could do or say anything, my German shepherd, who had been on the bed with me at the time, stepped into the hallway. And when he saw that man standing there in our living room, he made a mad dash right at him. The man jumped, spun around, and ran out of my apartment with my dog at his heels. My dog chased this guy down the stairs of the building and into the carport while I was trying to catch up, terrified that this guy would harm my dog. Once they made it onto the street, my dog let him go and came back to me. The man continued to book it until he turned a corner out of sight, but I had to drag my dog back to the building so I can lock us up in the apartment because I was still so terrified out of my mind. My knight in shining armor that day was named Copper, and he will always be one of the biggest loves of my life. And I truly do believe my life would be completely different today if he had not protected me. I never knew that long before my own terrifying incident with a stranger, this small island oasis had been part of a terrifying mystery. A serial killer never caught, victims left behind, and a community left with questions that have never been answered. It wasn't until I began researching this episode that I realized I had once been walking through history. A dark history, one that I now want to share with you. Oahu is the most populated island in Hawaii. From Honolulu to North Shore, Pearl Harbor to Waikiki, the island is marked with infamy, surf, history, and nightlife. But the island of paradise keeps a dark secret beneath its vibrant beaches and swaying palms. Vicki Gail Purdy, born May 11, 1960, was a 25-year-old living in Mulani. She was married to an Army helicopter pilot and worked at a video rental store. She is described by the people who knew her as feisty and tough. On Wednesday, May 29, 1985, after a night out clubbing with friends in Waikiki, Vicky takes a taxi cab to the Shore Bird Hotel at midnight to retrieve her car. When she fails to come home, her husband starts looking for her. He finds her car parked in the same place she left it. Her car is found with a nude dent, but there is no sign of Vicky. The next morning, her partially nude body is found by a motorist in an embankment at Lakehi Lagoon near the Honolulu airport. She is wearing her yellow jumpsuit. Her hands are bound behind her back with a parachute cord. She has signs of sexual assault and has been strangled. Her husband Gary later tells media that Vicky had once knocked the blank out of him during an argument. He believes it would have taken two people to nab her. Her husband also reports that he believes her death may be related to Vicky's job at the video rental store. It is rumored two women had been stabbed to death there years earlier. Regina Lavon Sakamoto, born in 1969 in Kansas, is a 17-year-old Leilehua high school student with plans to attend Hawaii Pacific University in the fall. She is described as loving and likes to help everyone. She babysits and looks after her younger brother. On the morning of January 14, 1986, Regina misses her bus and calls her boyfriend from a payphone at 7:15 a.m. to tell him she will be late to class because she is using the local transit. She never turns up at school. After she is reported missing, police believe it's possible that she was abducted from the bus stop. The next day, January 15th, her body is discovered in Kiehi Lagoon near the Honolulu airport, wearing only a blue tank top and white sweatshirt. There is an electrical extension cord with one end tied to her foot and the other end tied to a rock. The killer went to the trouble of fastening her to make sure she is found. Police also notice signs of assault. Her hands are bound behind her back with parachute cord in the same manner as Vicky. She also appears to have been strangled. These set of circumstances lead police to suspect that the person who murdered Vicky six months earlier has also murdered Vergina. 21-year-old Denise Fernay Hughes is a secretary for a telephone company who commuted by bus, was an active member of her Christian church, and married to a military man. She is described as hardworking and well-liked. Denise's move to Hawaii was a drawback for her mother. Denise's sister Dory had died in a car crash two years before and provides monumental support to her mother. On January 30th, 1986, just two weeks after Regina was found in a lagoon, Denise doesn't show up for work. Police are notified of her disappearance. On February 1st, her body is found in Mona Stream, also near the Honolulu airport, by three fishermen. She is clothed in a blue dress and wrapped in a blue tarp. Her hands are bound, there are signs of sexual assault, and she has been strangled. It was only after Denise's body was recovered that Hawaii's first known serial killer, the Honolulu Strangler, also known as the Honolulu rapist, was revealed to a terrified city. The Honolulu Police Department establishes a 27-man serial killer task force on February 5th with help from the FBI and the Green River Task Force, the task force being the team of investigators working on the Green River killings in King County, Washington. They have already noticed patterns in each of the killings. The victims are found partially clothed, their hands tied behind their back, and bodies of water near the airport. They also notice that the victims are tied with parachute cord. This makes for two aviation connections: dump sites near the airport and the parachute cord. All of the victims are dumped within a 10-minute drive from each other. This indicates that the killer is in his comfort zone. On February 13th, the city installs two-way radios in its buses. This allows drivers to call for help should they see something suspicious. Luis Medeiros was born September 12, 1960. The 25-year-old is described as independent, quiet, and a lone wolf. In high school, she was a track star, bringing home medals but didn't finish school. Louise is described as a hippie in the family. She has two sons and a daughter, who she is trying to bring home through a social worker. She lives in Macaha and is three months pregnant. She tells family that her life is going in the right direction. On March 26, 1986, Louise takes a red-eye flight to Oahu after attending her mother's funeral. She tells her family she will take a bus from Honolulu airport to her home. She disembarks the airplane and is never seen again. On April 2nd, workers find her decomposing body face down in a stream beneath the freeway overpass. She has on a blouse but is unclothed from the waist down. She has signs of sexual assault and her hands are bound behind her back with parachute cord. She is found 12 miles away from the other dump sites. Former Honolulu homicide detective Jeff Yamashida later stated that he believed the killer became spooked while transporting Luisa's body. Therefore, he threw her off a bridge to where she was found under the overpass while on the way to the airport. At this point, authorities are noticing that the abductions and deaths are becoming more frequent. The offender is escalating. They watch bus stops and advise women to be alert. They even set up sting operations using police women around Honolulu Airport in an attempt to trap the suspected serial killer. They're unable to lure him. The city is in a panic. Police release a sketch of the possible suspect vehicle based on witness statements, an unusual move so early in an investigation, but one made in hopes of preventing another death. The sketch is of a light-colored American-make van. Linda Mabel Pesci was born May 24, 1949, in Santa Rosa, California. Her family was from a working-class neighborhood in Marin County. She left college in the 70s, hitchhiking across the country, traveling alone. She made her way to Honolulu and worked as a dancer in a nightclub. She then moved to Guam, danced in clubs there, and moved back to Hawaii. Linda is carefree, streetwise, self-centered, and opinionated and a knockout, according to her friends and family. After having her daughter seven years earlier, the 37-year-old's life changed and she left the dancing scene. On the morning of April 29, 1986, Linda leaves for work and is expected home late that evening due to a work meeting. She is last seen leaving her job at Macaw Telecom at 6:30 p.m. The next morning, after being told that Linda has not shown up for work, a roommate reports her missing. Linda's 1976 light blue Toyota is found parked on the side of Nimitz Highway, with its emergency lights flashing, indicating that the car had stalled. The next night, police returned to the site where Linda's car was found the night before and stopped drivers, asking them if they have seen Linda or anyone with her. On May 3rd, a man named Howard Gay comes forward to police, reporting that he has found human remains on Sand Island. The informant takes police officers to an exact location, but bones the informant thought were human actually belong to an animal. While the patrol officers continue investigating the remains, a couple who are looking for cans and bottles 75 yards away frantically tell police they just stumbled across a body on the roadside. Police take control of the scene. They seal the entrance to the park where Linda's body is found and take names and phone numbers of everyone leaving. Linda is found with her hands tied behind her back and partially covered by dirt and debris. A cement block has been placed on her back. She is tied with the parachute cord in the same manner as the other women. The fact that the victims are tied with parachute cord is never revealed to the public. This is a little off topic, but years ago I used to visit a music venue on Sand Island. Nights filled with laughter, cocktails, and bands performing on stage. The bittersweet contrast here is heart-wrenching. I was dancing under the night on Sand Island, while years before, those same roads and shadows held something terrifying. I realize now that the past doesn't go away. It lingers quiet and invisible until we uncover it with curiosity, empathy, and sometimes horror. Previous women had been abducted at bus stops, and it is possible that Linda had gone to a bus stop after her car broke down. Police set up roadblocks, questioning frequent commuters. Witnesses come forward reporting that they had seen a light-colored van and a Caucasian or mixed race man with Linda's car. The FBI's behavioral science unit releases a profile of the Honolulu strangler. He is believed to be Caucasian or of mixed ancestry, between 30 and 40 years old. He likely drives a cargo van and is experiencing relationship troubles with a girlfriend or wife. According to the police, he probably has no prior criminal record. The killer is described as an opportunist, someone who targets vulnerable women in isolated situations, such as waiting alone at bus stops, rather than a predator who carefully stalks his victims. Investigators also believe he lives or works near the area where the attacks occurred. Police consider their suspect pool and begin to hone in on the man who called in to report the discovery of human remains, which turned out to be pig bones. Howard Andrew Gay is a 43-year-old Eva Beach resident who works as a mechanic for the air freight carrier Flying Tiger Cargo, which is located in the vicinity of Honolulu Airport. Knowing that Gay has been on Sand Island recently, drives a cream-colored van, lives in the area of the dump sites, and works in aviation, police arrests Howard Gay on May 9th as the primary suspect. Police learn that Gay served in the military and was stationed at George Air Force Base, now closed, until his honorable discharge in 1985. He worked as a telephone lineman, delivery driver, and mechanic. The suspect's ex-wife and girlfriend both describe Gay as a smooth talker. They also reveal a disturbing detail. He has a fetish involving bondage. Both women recall allowing him to tie them up during sex, their hands bound behind their backs. His girlfriend adds an ominous detail. After they argue, he often leaves the house for hours. These late-night disappearances, she notes, coincide with the nights the murders took place. Gay is brought in for questioning between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., fails a polygraph test, and is ultimately released. Prosecutors inform authorities that there is not enough evidence for there to be a burden of proof. They need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gay is the killer. Right now, all evidence is circumstantial and prosecutors only have one shot of a conviction. A case isn't always about what you know, but about what you can prove. Police keep the suspect under surveillance while private businesses offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Two months after the suspect was taken into custody, a woman comes forward with a chilling account. She claims to have seen a man with one of the victims on the night of her murder and identifies gay in a photo lineup, but she is reluctant to be named as a witness. She believes the suspect has seen her too. Years pass and shockingly, the case goes cold. Investigators are left with five victims, five separate crime scenes, a serial killer, and an island that serves as a transient hub in the middle of the Pacific. The killings had stopped, but why? There are several possible explanations. The killer may have left the island, a likely scenario given Oahu's strong military presence, where personnel are often stationed for just two or five years. Another possibility is incarceration. However, this seems less likely as most prison systems collect DNA for serious offenses, and DNA had been recovered from the victims. No matches have ever been found. And then there's a third, final possibility. The killer is dead. In a recent interview for a documentary, detectives who worked the case revealed who they believe was the man behind the Honolulu strangler killings. Luis Sosa, a former homicide detective with Honolulu police, was a lieutenant of the task force and had investigated some of the crime scenes. He stated that police believed the killer was a smooth talker because the victims lacked any major self-defense injuries. This might suggest that the victims weren't afraid of the killer until he attacked. The police also noticed that all of the victims to appear have gone willingly into the suspect's vehicle. The suspect was able to present himself in a way where he didn't seem like a threat to the women. There is, however, the possibility that he used a weapon, maybe a gun, to force them into a vehicle. If he used a weapon, it would put him in control. A forensic pathologist who worked the case also stated to filmmakers that male fluid was found on the victim's body, but with very few sperm, which could suggest the killer had a reproductive problem or visectomy. In a 2018 interview, Howard Gay's ex-wife shared unsettling details about their past. She and Gay met in 1968. They were college sweethearts. The couple lived in California for 10 years and had two sons together. In 1980, Flying Tiger Cargo transferred Gay to Hawaii, but his wife and children remained in California. He went to the island alone. The two didn't see much of each other after the move, though she did make one surprise visit to Hawaii with their sons. Instead of welcoming them, Gay was visibly upset. He refused to let them stay at his home, insisting they book a hotel instead. Just two days later, he sent them back to California. On May 3, 1986, the last known victim, Linda, is found on Sand Island. In June, a month later, Gay goes to California to see his son graduate from high school. Three days after the graduation ceremony, his son is killed in an accident on the side of the road while changing attire on a car. After his son's death, Gay becomes a born-again Christian. This brings up another potential reason for a serial killer to stop killing. A transformational experience. No one can ever know for sure, but it may be possible that Gay could have believed his son's death was God's punishment for the crimes he was committing. This may have been reason enough for him to end the deaths. During this interview, the ex-wife also confirms that Gay did have a visectomy. To this day, police who worked Hawaii's first serial killer case believe Gay was their strongest lead after he called police to volunteer information. Gay died on November 2nd, 2003, at age 60, never being convicted of the Honolulu stranglings. Although he was never brought to trial, police kept him under surveillance for years. This is such a tragically sad case. It is impossible to charge a dead man with homicide, so it's unlikely the case will ever be closed. Not only do the victim's family have to continue life without closure, but several questions will always remain unanswered. Vicki is the first known victim of the Honolulu stranglings, but what happened before her dismal death? Authorities have speculated that Vicky probably wasn't the first victim, but she may have been the first to be killed. If so, the killer could have committed sexual assaults or experimented in other crimes before working his way up to murder. The deaths of these women will forever be a part of Hawaii's long history. They will always be forever young, but not forever trapped in the 1980s if we keep sharing their story. Thank you for listening to this podcast. I appreciate you every time you hear these stories because they mean so much to me. If you enjoy what you hear, please like, subscribe, or follow. Please comment if you're on YouTube or hit the send fan mail link in the show notes. I would truly love to hear from you. Thank you to my husband and sound engineer Josh. His creativity inspires me every day. I'm your host, Amy Jean. Stay safe and take care.