PAHOA, Hawaii (AP) – The Latest on a triple killing on Hawaii’s Big Island (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
Police say blood dripping from the trunk of a car led officers to a find a woman’s body stuffed inside and the bodies of two children inside a house on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Officers were called to a disturbance around 1:30 a.m. Friday at a home in a rural subdivision and saw a man leaving the house and then driving away in a car without lights.
Police say the officers pulled over the driver, saw a gun on the front seat and blood dripping from the trunk.
Inside the house, officers found the bodies of a boy and a girl. Police are trying to identify the victims.
John Ali Hoffman has been arrested on suspicion of three counts of murder. Police say he’s in jail and can’t speak with the media.
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1:40 p.m.
The sister-in-law of a man suspected of killing two children and a woman on Hawaii’s Big Island says she’s shocked by the allegations because he’s a caring person.
Police say John Ali Hoffman was arrested Friday on suspicion of three counts of murder.
Marie Hoffman, who says she’s married to his brother, says John Hoffman has two young children. She said in a telephone interview from Minneapolis that he would never hurt them.
Police Capt. Robert Wagner says officers responding to a disturbance call pulled over John Hoffman as he was driving away and found a woman’s body in the trunk.
Inside the house, officers found the bodies of a boy and a girl. Police are trying to identify the victims.
Wagner says Hoffman is in jail and isn’t allowed to speak with the media.
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12 p.m.
Police on Hawaii’s Big Island say two juveniles are among the three people a man is suspected of killing.
Capt. Robert Wagner says officers responding to a disturbance call Friday pulled over a man who was driving away in a car and found a woman’s body in the trunk. He says they also discovered a gun in the car.
Inside the house in a rural subdivision, Wagner says officers found the bodies of a boy and a girl. Police are trying to identify the victims.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of three counts of murder and is being held in jail.
Wagner says a triple homicide is “definitely unique,” not only for the rural Puna area, but the entire island.
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10:15 a.m.
Police on Hawaii’s Big Island say they have a man in custody who they suspect killed three people.
Police on Friday responded to a disturbance call in a subdivision in the Puna district. When officers arrived, they stopped a vehicle that was leaving. Police say a woman’s body was inside.
Police found two other bodies inside the house.
The driver of the vehicle was arrested on suspicion of three counts of murder. He’s being held at the Hilo police cellblock.
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