Diane Suzuki was a nineteen-year old dancer and student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who disappeared on July 6, 1985, and has since been the focus of one of the most notorious modern criminal investigations in the history of the state of Hawaii. The Diane Suzuki investigation was the instance in which luminol and other technological advances in forensic science were first used by the Honolulu Police Department. Suzuki was a female resident of Halawa, 5 feet 1 inch tall, 109 pounds, with a slim build, and of Japanese descent. Suzuki was last seen at about 5 p.m. on July 6, 1985, outside the Woodson Institute of Dance in Aiea, where she was employed as a dance instructor. During the same time period in Hawaii, there were the unsolved killings of at least nine women on Oahu. The deaths of Lisa Au, Regina Sakamoto, and others all over the island, led many to believe that there was a crime wave during the 1980's. Although no charges have ever been filed in the case, it is widely believed that the murder suspect was a fellow dance instructor who murdered Suzuki in the bathroom of the Woodson Institute in Aiea. The discovery of blood evidence at the site led to legislation that overhauled Hawaii's harassment laws to include stalking, and changed the status of TRO violations to a class C felony (with a maximum penalty of 5 years in jail) in the hope of preventing further violence against women. In 1993, Keith Kaneshiro, who was then prosecuting attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, attempted to re-open the case, but after more than 300 hours of grand jury testimony and thousands of dollars spent on the investigation, no charges were filed. The case remains unsolved as of 2007. A primary suspect for the Diane Suzuki case has been identified as Dewey Hamasaki. Hamasaki was allegedly stalking Diane Suzuki as a co-worker at the dance studio. Members of the public have alleged that the body of Diane Suzuki was buried at the Hamasaki family's pig farm in Kailua (a district of Oahu less than 30 minutes away from Aiea by car or van). It has also been alleged by neighbors of the Suzuki family, and neighbors of the Hamasaki family, that the entire Hamasaki family was in on cover up of the murder; however, no member of the Hamasaki family is known to have been charged with obstruction of justice or otherwise charged with covering up the murder as of November 5, 2007. It is also alleged that Suzuki's body was later removed from its burial place on the pig farm and dumped into the ocean. The only evidence linking Suzuki to the Hamasaki pig farm is a black ballet tutu that was badly decomposed, and a reconstructed wall. Police investigations of the soil samples at the wall failed to reveal any traces of human remains.[1]
Media
Retired Honolulu Police Department Major Gary Dias wrote a book entitled Honolulu Cop including details on his investigation into the Suzuki murder.
References
- ^ I'm just wondering. hawaiistories.com (2002-09-25). Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
