Another Christmas murder

I recently read this book and highly recommend it. This case took longer to solve than JB's case, involved a sleepy community that was ill-equipped to investigate, and the trials were very controversial.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Dec/14/il/il15a.html

Honolulu Advertiser, 12-14-2003
Unflinching reminder of terrible crime

MURDER IN PARADISE: A Christmas in Hawaii Turns to Tragedy by Chris Loos and Rick Castberg; Avon, paperback, $7.50

For those touched by the murder of Dana Ireland on Christmas Eve, 1991, this season will forever be tinged with sadness. This true-crime book by newspaper reporter Chris Loos and legal expert Rick Castberg, both of Hilo, tells the gruesome story of the discovery of the girl's body, beaten and bloodied; the trouble-plagued attempts of rescue workers to reach her; the long investigation, the legal proceedings that followed and the questions that remain.

What impresses the reader most profoundly is how many people were aware, as the months went by without an arrest, of who might have been involved and what might have happened — or who at least had pieces of the story. But the remote Puna District neighborhoods where the key characters lived appear to have operated under a code of silence as troublesome for law enforcement as the Mafia's "omerta." Or, in some cases, police were so ill-equipped and understaffed for such a case that it took a long time to follow up on what turned out to be meaningful information.

"It can't happen here," the book's back cover says, the sentiment that rippled through the Islands as the Ireland story spooled out. But the book makes it clear exactly why it could have happened here and why it happened the way it did. So many factors contributed: racial issues, drug and alcohol abuse, the remoteness of the murder locale, the lack of resources for fire, rescue and police agencies, the cultural cross-currents that affected everything from the original crime to the way it was prosecuted.

One thing must be said: Even for Islanders who are normally interested in true-crime books, this one is a difficult read. It's too close too home. We feel squeamish about deriving enjoyment, or passing our time delving into the pain and anger of a family that endured one outrage after another. Can there be any reason other than crass curiosity to spend time with a book like this?

For Islanders, especially, I think yes. It goes back to those cultural cross-currents. Without doing so overtly, the book raises troubling questions. Would Dana Ireland have been singled out as the victim of this crime had she not been a newcomer or a Caucasian? What role did poverty, racial stereotyping, lack of education, drugs and alcohol, unemployment and other social ills play in creating an atmosphere where such a crime could take place? Will more violence result as rural areas of the Islands increasingly become a mix of newcomers (and often affluent ones) and kama'aina who may feel squeezed out and alienated? How can we finance needed services for places so sparsely populated — ought there, for example, to be a 5-0-style extraordinary-crime investigation unit that could be called in by any law enforcement agency in the state?

The book is clearly written, follows the usual true-crime conventions with regard to sketching in background and dramatic scene-setting and is based on extensive interviews with most of the affected parties, including the Ireland family. Many questions remain; the reader wishes, as often happens, for a feature-film-type denouement, in which it becomes clear exactly why those responsible did what they did.

While it hardly seems the kind of book appropriate for a holiday gift, it is one that provokes thought, and draws the mind to those who are remembering Dana Ireland at this time of year.

[snip]

 

Thanks, FedoraX

I've seen this book in the bookstores but haven't read it yet. You have given me the impetus to buy it and read it. Thanks.

 

Thanks, FedX!

Sounds very interesting. I will take a look at my library and see if they have it or are going to have it.

(I'm currently reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Then next on the queue is a new book by a detective that claims to have solved the famous Black Dahlia case, and then after that, The DaVinci Code (which finally came in for me at the library). I think I'm going to spend the holidays doing some reading.)

Ayeka

 

Great, gals

You won't regret it. WY, in particular, you will see frustrating entanglements and parallels to the RamFam case. Make particular note of the testimony of the medical experts.

Ayeka, most people who know or worked the Black Dahlia case think this new author is less interested in truth and more interested in publicly working out his angst at his father. There was a cable special on the mystery that aired a couple years ago and pops up from time to time that I give a thumb's up to.

 

Re: Great, gals

As I recall, the documentary wasn't one-sided in its criticism of the "angst" angle. It did show wiretap transcripts in which the theoretical suspect all but admitted to the killing, and the circumstances of the molestation of his 14 year-old daughter are also highly suspicious. Most of the criticism vented toward the theory was in the form of heated arguments given by sitting LAPD officials, the same luminaries who gave us the Rodney King beating, the Rampart corruption scandal, the Brian Liddy shake-downs, and so on, and so on. Stellar witnesses there, and the sum total of their argument was "he wasn't being protected by the LAPD and that's that." Well alrighty then. Didn't even need corrupted DNA to scratch George Hodel off of that list, eh?

 

Funny you should post about this book. A dear friend sent me a copy for Christmas and I just finished reading it.

I did notice the parallels. Having lived in Hawaii, I can relate to the cultural barriers, which I believe were UNDERPLAYED in the book. And I can relay some things from personal experience that are quite unbeliveable but I do not think are appropriate to post on a public forum.

Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on earth but it is only skin deep. Underneath is alot of hate,resentment,incompetency and laziness. Enough said.

I have Wecht's book and also Ann Rule's new book "Heart Full of Lies" but haven't started reading them. I am so bad about reading, I used to read a book a week at the minimum pre-interent days..