Obscure Occurrences : The Honolulu Strangler

Vicki Purdy

(Source: Serial Dispatches)

 On the 29^th of May, 1985, Vicki Purdy headed out to go clubbing with her friends in the Waikiki District of Honolulu. Aged just 25, Vicki worked at an adult video rental store and was married to an army helicopter pilot named Gary. The couple had been together since Vicki was 20, and had moved to Hawaii less than 18 months before her demise. Vicki was last seen alive at around midnight, after being dropped off at the Shorebird hotel by a taxi, to retrieve her vehicle from the hotel's parking lot.

 When Vicki didn't return home in time, her husband, Gary, attempted to contact her through a telephone paging system, but his requests for communication went unanswered. Driving around in search of his wife, Gary came across his wife's car, still parked in the Shorebird’s parkade. However, there was no sign of Vicki.

 The following morning, Gary's worst fears were confirmed. Vicki's body was discovered on an embankment overlooking Keehi Lagoon, near Lagoon Drive. Whilst she was still attired in the same yellow jumpsuit she had been wearing while leaving the house, Vicki's underwear was missing. Her hands had been tied behind her back and she had been sexually assaulted. Her cause of death was determined to be strangulation via ligature.

 Gary claimed that his wife was a strong and streetwise woman, suggesting that it would take two people to put her down. His claims made Vicki's assault all the more surprising, thus leading to speculations about the involvement of more than one perpetrator. Furthermore, just one year before Vicki’s death, two women were stabbed to death at her place of work, giving rise to a possibility of a connection between these crimes.

 For more than six months following Vicki's death, the Honolulu Strangler lay low, waiting to pounce on his next victim.

Regina Sakamoto

 Regina Sakamoto, a Kansas-born teenager, was last heard from at 7:15 on the morning of the 14^th of January, 1986. Described as shy but friendly, the seventeen-year-old was known to be very close with her mother and was actively involved in school activities. Bookish, fun-loving, and outgoing, she had planned to attend Hawaii Pacific University after the summer.

 Having missed her bus to school on the morning of January 14^th, Regina called her boyfriend before informing him that she would be late. Witnesses saw her waiting for the next bus, but the seventeen-year-old never made it to school. The following morning, Regina's body was discovered at Keehi Lagoon. The teenager was nude from the waist down. Her hands had been bound behind her back with a parachute cord, and one of her feet had been tied to a rock with an electrical cord. Similar to the case of Vicki, she had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.

 The similarities between the two cases were so strikingly similar that the police quickly concluded that Regina and Vicki had fallen victim to the same predator.

Denise Hughes

 The strangler's third victim was a young, married church-goer named Denise Hughes. Described by her supervisor as a woman who always had a smile on her face, the twenty-one-year-old failed to show up for her secretarial shift on 30 January 1986, just two weeks after Regina's demise.

 Denise's husband, a Navy serviceman, was stationed aboard a ship at Pearl Harbour, making him unaware of Denise’s disappearance at the time. Like Regina, the twenty-one-year-old had travelled to work via bus. On the 1^st of February, 1987, two days after she was reported missing, her body was discovered.

 Three fishermen found Denise in the Moanalua stream, which flows into the Keehi Lagoon. Her decomposing body was clothed in her blue dress and wrapped in a section of blue tarpaulin. Like the other Strangler victims, her hands had been tied behind her back with a parachute cord, she had been sexually assaulted, and she had been strangled to death. Denise’s identity remained unidentified for a few days until her dental records were sent to the mainland U.S. and a match was confirmed.

A Serial Killer Task Force

 On 5^th February 1986, just a few days after the recovery of Denise's body, the Honolulu Police Department established a twenty-seven-membered task force, which aimed to identify and apprehend the Honolulu Strangler. The detectives who formed the group included experienced veterans from both the sex crime and homicide departments. The HPD also recruited the help of both the FBI and the Green River task force, which had been given the assignment of apprehending Gary Ridgway, a famed serial killer. Ridgway was known for strangling his victims, but he often targeted runaway sex workers and other vulnerable women.

 The criminal profile created for the Honolulu Strangler described him as an opportunist who attacked women who were in vulnerable positions. Additionally, he was not believed to be a stalker. The Strangler would likely be a resident in Waipahu or Sand Island, or possibly worked there, and would drive a cargo van. He was also believed to be white or mixed race, between the ages of 30 and 40, and was predicted to have no criminal record.

 Further details were revealed to the media by the police chief, Douglas Gibb, who stated that the Honolulu Strangler was an individual who may be experiencing girlfriend or marital problems. The selection of victims could have probably been the result of opportunity or chance encounters.

 Following the creation of the task force, other implementations including the addition of two-way radios to public bus services were made. This introduction allowed drivers to request aid or report strange happenings. Despite, these efforts the Strangler continued to attack and get away with his crimes.

Louise Medeiros

 On the 26^th of March, 1986, Louise Medeiros became the Honolulu Strangler's fourth victim. As described by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the twenty-five-year-old had lived much of her life before she knew how to live it. Reportedly, she had left her family as a teenager before moving to Oahu in search of independence. She had only returned home once in the span of those six years.

 During her time in Oahu, Louise had received welfare, had minor brushes with the law, and lived with beach people at Makaha. Louise had never married, but she had four children. She was three months pregnant with her fifth child when she vanished. Just days before she went missing, Louise had returned home briefly after the death of her mother. In line with her family, she was ambitious and determined to turn her life around, and she no longer wanted to be a rebel.

 Louise disappeared after leaving the airport. Having returned to Oahu from her family home, she had planned to catch a bus back to her Apartments but never arrived. On the 2^nd of April, 1986, a week after she had vanished, the twenty-five-year-old's body was discovered by road workers near Waikele stream, 12 miles from where Denise's body was discovered two months earlier. Louise's hands had been tied behind her back with a parachute cord and she was nude from the waist down.

 Investigators noticed that the first three victims of the Strangler had been dumped around the Honolulu international airports while Louise had passed through the area, thus suggesting that the airport was an important area to the perpetrator. The police posted undercover female officers around the airport and around Keehi Lagoon, but the Strangler never took the bait.

Linda Pesce

 The final victim of the Strangler was Linda Pesce. On 29 April 1986, the thirty-six-year-old was last seen while leaving her apartment and she failed to attend work the following morning. After discovering that her Toyota was unlocked and parked by the Nimitz-H1 viaduct, her roommate immediately contacted the police.

 Much like Vicki, Linda was described as a streetwise and strong woman. She had spent the 1970s hitchhiking across the U.S. before winding up in Hawaii, where she worked as a dancer in a nightclub. Similar to Louise, Linda left her rebellious streak behind after she gave birth to her daughter.

 On the night of the disappearance, witnesses had seen Linda's Toyota with its hazard lights flashing. They reported that another vehicle had parked beside it as if to provide aid. The car was described as a cream-colored, American-made van with unclear letters on its back windows. Witnesses also described seeing a medium-built, white, or mixed-race man, who was apparently in his late 30s or 40s. Despite having this information authorities were not able to locate this individual or the van.

 On 03 May 1986, forty-three-year-old Howard Andrew Gay contacted the police, claiming that a psychic had told him the location of Linda’s body. The clue led the investigators to Sand Island, a small island located at the entrance to Honolulu Harbour. Combing the tiny area, they eventually discovered Linda's body.

 Linda’s nude body was lying off a dirt road and her hands had been tied behind her back with a parachute cord. A cement block was found on her back and she was partially hidden by dirt and debris. Soon after the discovery, detectives turned their attention to Howard, whose story made them highly suspicious. Furthermore, the forty-three-year-old perfectly matched the physical description of the Strangler.

A Possible Perpetrator

 Investigators soon discovered that Howard was obsessed with an employee of a local Sailing Club, who was known to fit the same general description as most of the strangler's victims. Reportedly, he would often stare at the young woman and offer her lifts, which she always rejected. In one instance, she declined Howard’s offer but accepted a ride from a biker, thus enraging him. Detectives also learned that he had physically assaulted another woman after she had refused to enter his vehicle. These reports caused the police to arrest Howard.

(Source: Find A Grave)

 Howard Gay was originally from Buffalo, New York. Originally a military serviceman, he had been stationed at George Air Force Base in California until being honorably discharged in 1965. He had taken up a plethora of odd jobs before eventually landing as a mechanic at an air freight carrier. After birthing two children together, Gay divorced his wife in 1983. To add on, he drove a cream-colored van and he had never run into trouble with the law.

 In line with his ex-wife, Gay was persuasive, charming, and a smooth talker. He enjoyed bondage and liked to tie women's hands behind their backs while engaging in sex. Furthermore, his girlfriend at the time, when interviewed by the police, stated that on the nights the Strangler's victims disappeared, she and Gay had fought and he had stormed out of their home in a rage.

 With all this information at hand, detectives felt that they had their man. Gay was interrogated for 10 hours as well as given at least one polygraph test, but no evidence that directly linked him to the crimes existed. With only circumstantial evidence in hand, law enforcement was forced to let Gay go.

 Interestingly, police recovered a notepad in Linda's office which had Gay's name and phone number on it, suggesting that he was a potential customer. A woman who served as witness to Linda's disappearance instinctively picked Gay out of a line-up of photos. However, she later failed to testify against him, claiming that she feared for her life.

 While persistently monitoring Gay, the police made a 25,000 reward for any potential information, but they could never find any forensic evidence linking him to the crimes of the Honolulu Strangler. Strangely, after Gay’s release the Strangler never struck again.

 In June of 1986, after his son was killed in a car accident, Gay became a born-again Christian. He eventually moved back to California permanently, and soon after his 60^th birthday, he met his demise.

Conclusion

 Despite the lack of physical and forensic evidence, Honolulu investigators believe that Gay is the Honolulu Strangler. Many things about his life and physical appearance line up with that of the perpetrator. However, due to the lack of solid evidence, the cases of Vicki, Regina, Denise, Louise, and Linda remain unsolved. Frustratingly, their families have found no closure or justice to their deaths.