Jacob Daniel Baker, 36, of Pahoa, Hawaii, was arrested Thursday on accusations of killing three people. Photo courtesy Hawaii Police Department/Release
Police in Hawaii have arrested a 36-year-old man authorities described as armed and extremely dangerous, bringing an end to the manhunt for the suspect accused of killing three seniors in separate homicides this week.
Hawaii Island police arrested Jacob Daniel Baker of Pahoa at about 2:38 p.m. HST Thursday, locating him hiding in a cave near the town of Kalapana, home to a few dozen people along the eastern coast of the Big Island.
Police were notified of his location after a man resembling Baker was seen in video surveillance footage hiding in a vacant lot in the Kaimu area of Kalapana, and then fleeing to an adjacent property. Police said witnesses said they had spotted a man in the area seemingly trying not to be seen by passing vehicles.
“Officers and detectives responded to the area and conducted a search, ultimately locating Baker concealed within a small cave,” the Hawaii Police Department said in a statement.
Authorities allege Baker killed three seniors early this week in the Pahua area of Hawaii Island.
The investigation began Monday night at about 8:45 p.m. when Puna patrol officers responded to a report of an unknown disturbance at a Papaya Farms Road residence in Pahoa, where they found a man dead with no signs of foul play.
The victim was identified as 69-year-old Robert Shine. An autopsy showed that he had died as a result of strangulation.
On Tuesday, officers responded to a second residence on Papaya Farms Road at about 12:30 p.m. and discovered a deceased 79-year-old man with what authorities described as “suspicious injuries.”
The cause of death and identity of the second victim were still pending, police said.
Capt. Jeremy Scott Lewis, of the Criminal Investigation Division, said the two crime scenes were separated by between 400 and 500 feet.
That night, shortly before 10 p.m., officers discovered a dead 69-year-old man in a Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road residence, located about 19 miles from the two Papaya Farms Road crime scenes. The victim was identified as John Carse. An autopsy performed Wednesday showed he had died from sharp force trauma.
It was not clear when exactly each of the victims was killed.
Baker was identified as a suspect during a Wednesday press conference by Hawaii Island Police Chief Reed Mahuna, who said the suspect “should be considered armed and extremely, extremely dangerous.”
Mahuna would not say what led them to Baker, whom police had no significant contact with prior to the homicides but was known to them.
Asked if the killings were targeted, Mahuna said they did not have a motive.
“We do not know the motive of the suspect other than to say that we are confident that the suspect is involved in all three homicides,” he said, adding that they are unaware of any connection linking the three victims other than the first two lived in close proximity to one another.
“We cannot disclose at this time the evidence that we have that connects the three or the method that we used to get that information. But we are confident that the suspect here is responsible or involved in all three homicides.”
