Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 71

Nearly Quadrupled and Still Running High 1 972 a Turning Point in Unsolved Murders By Gregg Takayama Star-Bulletin Writer 1970 and gangland strongarm Reno Abellira in 1965. Many victims, however, are long forgotten. In many cases, perhaps only the forever-silent victim knows his slayer. In others, police say the culprit is known, but there is not enough evidence to bring him to trial. "If we bring a murder suspect to trial and lose, we can't try him again for the same charge," said Lt.

Gordon Lee, head of the police department's six-man homicide detail. THERE WAS A SUDDEN increase in unsolved murders in 1972 when there were 14, and it has continued since. In 1971, there were only four the usual number for the previous years. In 1973, there were 11, and there are 16 so far this year. The reasons for the increase are numerous.

The most apparent is the over-all increase in murder casgs. There were 46 suspected murders committed in 1972, with 36 in 1973, and 42 thus far in 1974. The body of Allen Francisco, 21, a resident of Mayor Wright Housing in Palama, was found stuffed in the trunk of his car Sept. 2 at Ala Moana Center. No one has been arrested in the case, and his death remains a mystery.

Two decomposed bodies were found in a Kunia pineapple field on Aug. 7, helplessly bound and beaten to death. THEIR IDENTITIES REMAIN unknown since the bodies were badly decomposed, and police say their fingerprints reveal no known criminal record. The three murders are the latest of many slayings which have baffled police and remain on their "open," or unsolved list. There are 78 slayings, reaching back to 1938, on the unsolved list.

Included are several well-publicized ones, such as those of State Sen. Larry Kuriyama in 1973 James E. Lee, 20, medical technician at Wheeler Air Force Base, shot as he was driving in Wahiawa by occupants of another car which drew alongside on Oct. 19. A Chicago resident, he was married to a Honolulu woman for three months and told his friends that he feared for his life.

Carolyn Leong, 18, teller in Kaimuki bank, found in a Kailua rubbish dump on Sept. 24 apparently beaten to death. She was last seen driving off in her boyfriend's car four days earlier. The car was found in Moiliili. Melvin P.

Silva, 33, Hawaii State Prison parolee, shot in Kapaolono Park restroom in Kaimuki on July 20. He was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1960 beating death of a taxi driver. Matthew V. Potter, 13, son of Navy officer, stabbed in elevator of a Waikiki hotel on June 25. Police said his body apparently had been placed there after he was killed.

Donald G. Benjamin, 21, a Marine lance corporal, beaten to death at a Sand Island rubbish dump on May 3. He was a resident of Minneapolis, Minn. Frank James Bates, 26, shot in a parking lot on Ahonui Street in Kalihi on April 18. He was free on $2,000 bail pending appeal to the State Supreme Court on a robbery conviction.

He had been convicted of robbing a Cornet Store employe of $7,000 in Makaha in 1971. Benito M. Abueg, 69, poolroom owner, beaten in his Palama poolroom on March 26. His wallet containing $75 was taken. He died in Tripler Hospital on April 23.

Sterling Thronas, 20, shot as he was sitting in a car at Sand Island with two friends on March 12 by men who drove up in another car. He had been indicted on four counts of burglary earlier. Diana A. Sheldon, 32, Ewa Beach housewife, shot as she was holding her infant by a gunman who got into her husband's car at Ala Moana Center on March 12. He told her to get into the back seat, demanded money, and shot her twice.

He fled after forcing her husband to drive arqund the block. Cassie D. Vigil, .18, Marine at Waikele ammunition depot, shot in the head alongside Farrington Highway in Makakilo next to a friend's stalled car on March 5. He was a resident of Colorado. Raymond T.

Deicker, 47, tire salesman, found shot in the head below Kapena Falls in Nuuanu Stream on Feb. 5. His wallet containing $500 was intact, but his pockets were pulled out as if to indicate a search. 1972 Buckley Everson, 34, carpet installer, found tied, slashed with a sword and beaten to death in his Tantalus home on Nov. 11.

Police said the California man lived at the rented house with two women. Stanley S. Horie, 28, Kailua service station manager, shot as he drove into his Kapahulu home carport on Oct. 29. He had testified as a witness in a 1965 robbery trial.

Viola Carol Simeona, 16, found on Sept. 23 shot through the heart in an abandoned cesspool in Nana-kuli near her home. Marylinn Cummings, 19, and Robert Brown, 29, Turn to Page F-2, Col. 1 SO, ALTHOUGH MURDER HAS the highest solution rate of all violent crimes (60-70), the unsolved list continues to grow, along with the total number of crimes committed. Another reason for the increase in unsolved slayings, according to Lee, is the increased sophistication of the modern criminal.

Also, he said, "There were no guns-for-hire gangs in the sixties." Lee refused to estimate the number of unsolved murders related to the local syndicate, but one source placed it at about 16. These are the 78 unsolved murder cases: 1974 Allen Francisco, 21, found dead in the trunk of his car at Ala Moana Center last week. He had been bound and gagged. Florence F. Kurschner, 48, found dead in her Algaroba Street apartment on Aug.

23. Cause of death has been deferred by the medical examiner pending laboratory tests. Two unknown men, found beaten to death in a Kunia pineapple field on Aug. 7. They had been dead for several weeks.

Suspected gangland slayings. Melvin Titcomb, 37, Hawaii State Prison parolee, found dead of gunshot wounds in chest and stomach on a Waimanalo street on Aug. 5. He was sentenced to prison for several burglaries and manslaughter in the 1967 death of a fellow inmate. Alexander Chong Kong, 40, shot to death in the Olomana golf course parking lot on July 30.

He was a known collector of gambling debts for the syndicate. Gangland slaying. Allen G. Wessel, 33, ex-merchant marine, shot in a telephone booth outside the Big bar in Kalihi on July 7. He was serving a 10-year probation sentence after being convicted on three counts of selling marijuana in 1966.

Ralph Newton, 25, taxi driver, shot in the head after driving a customer to Ala Moana Park on June 28. Betsy Nakasone, 23, bookkeeper and clerk, strangled to death in her Kamoku Street apartment on June 23. Alanna Bailey, 30, known prostitute, strangled on side of Nuuanu Pali Drive on June 16. Joseph Tupa, 23, found on May 31 in a Maili rubbish dump shot to death. Police were tipped by an anonymous caller.

Paul V. Summers, 35, office and reservations manager for Imperial Hawaii Hotel, stabbed and beaten in his Ohua Street apartment on April 28. Richard Bechert, 60, retired realtor, shot in the head in center of Aala Park on April 5. His wallet and money were intact. Paul Kim, 28, beaten to death with a pool cue in a Waialae Avenue poolroom by six men who also ripped the pool tables, smashed pinball machines and wrecked furniture on March 26.

Other customers were unharmed. Jack Y. Hokama, 17, high school student, shot as he jumped out of kidnapers' car in Kalihi Valley on Feb. 28. Two kidnapers shot and wounded his friend later.

Bill Martin, 46, Waialua apartment manager, shot fatally in his Au Street apartment on Jan. 27. Star-Bulletin "-'-V, spz? jmSi vA" Jk lit! H1I Wednesday, September 11, 1974 FIRST GANGLAND SLAYINGS The bodies of Joseph K. L. Hong and Joseph Y.

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