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HONOLULU (AP) — In the secluded and diverse region of Puna on Hawaii’s Big Island, the tragic deaths of three men known for their off-grid, free-spirited ways have served as a shocking reflection of the community’s hidden challenges.
Within a day of Jacob Baker’s arrest, the local community was grappling to comprehend the events and sought clarity on why the authorities focused on the 36-year-old as the primary suspect in the murders of men in their late 60s and 70s.
Baker remains incarcerated, facing allegations of murder, burglary, and additional offenses.
He is accused of involvement in the deaths of three individuals: a 69-year-old found partially submerged in a cement pond, a 79-year-old discovered just a short distance away, and another 69-year-old whose remains were located approximately 19 miles (31 kilometers) from the others. By Friday, formal charges had yet to be filed by prosecutors.
The first victim was identified by police as Robert Shine, and the third victim as John Carse. The identity of the 79-year-old man is still pending official confirmation, though friends have named him as Chitta Morse.
Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said investigators had not found any connections among the victims, other than two of them lived near each other.
Fixtures at drum circles
Friends of Shine and Morse say the men moved to Puna for its off-grid, tropical and communal lifestyle.
Shine enjoyed dancing and swaying to the beat at drum circles, usually on Sunday afternoons, said Donald Hyatt, a drummer.
Hyatt last saw Shine at a party last month. A local rock-and-roll band was playing and Shine was dancing around.
“He was dancing like he loved life,” Hyatt recalled. “Bob had a permanent smile. Always in good spirits.”
Morse moved from Van Nuys, California 40 years ago “to live off-grid and to live in a warm tropical place, and to eat fruit,” said friend Jezuz Cinderland. “For 40 years he only ate raw food. Since he got to the island he just went completely raw and this was just the right environment for him to do it.”
On land rich with volcanic soil on Papaya Farms Road, Morse had what Cinderland called a “fruit forest,” growing things like coconut, avocado and durian.
“He would just share all the fruit he had,” Cinderland said. “The most fabulous abundance that you can imagine.”
While Morse had previously been a member of the raw-food commune Cinderland moved to Puna to join, in recent years Morse was a loner, Cinderland said.
Shine was a member of Cinderland’s commune, which has been shuttered by the county for various code violations, Cinderland said.
Work-trade life
Janelle Honer, who also grew fruit on Papaya Farms Road, seems to be what connected Baker to the men, who often attended pot luck dinners and parties on Honer’s property.
Baker had been living on Honer’s property in exchange for climbing and trimming coconut trees, her ex-husband, Stephen Shaffer said. Trading work for living accommodations is common in Puna.
Hyatt said Baker left the cabin he was living in on Honer’s property months ago but returned recently claiming “squatter’s rights” and threatened Honer. Hyatt said he urged her to seek a restraining order.
The slayings happened just days after two women requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them at a farm. One woman was staying there and the other co-owned it. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment.
No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.
Honer, who Shaffer said was traveling out of the country, couldn’t be reached for comment.
A memorial for the men was planned for Saturday next to Honer’s place.
Puna is one of the few places in Hawaii where there’s affordable land, and the area’s infrastructure hasn’t kept up with its growth, said Ashley Kierkiewicz, who represents Puna on the county council.
While Puna has a reputation as a quirky frontier, it’s also a place rich in culture where people are resilient and lean on each other, she said.
Puna, with its landscape that’s a mix of lush jungle and barren lava-rock fields, also struggles with drugs, poverty and limited resources, said longtime resident Tiffany Edwards Hunt.
“People have this mistaken impression that they can come to Hawaii and heal,” she said. “Hawaii can either really be kind to you or it can chew you up and spit you out.”
Surveillance cameras aid capture
Mark Wyatt and Richard Valdez played a key role in Baker’s capture, calling the police when their surveillance camera system pinged Valdez’s phone and it showed Baker on their property on Thursday. Their property is about a half-mile from Carse’s home, but they didn’t know him well.
The videos show Baker, shirtless and barefoot, with a dog walking near a road and getting down on the ground as cars went by, in an apparent attempt to avoid being seen.
“He was ducking from the traffic, so it was pretty obvious” that he was trying to avoid being found, Valdez said.
Authorities arrested Baker a short distance away after finding him in a small cave, police said.
Wyatt said he believed Baker had been hiding near his property in a small, makeshift camping spot over a bluff overlooking the ocean. He said Baker stole couch cushions from a container outside his home and some charcoal, and Baker used coconut tree palm fronds to cover the site.
Valdez said he hadn’t seen Baker in about two years. Back then, he said, Baker was living next door to them, renting space from their neighbor while trimming coconuts from trees and selling them just off the area’s main road. He lived next door for about six months, Valdez said.
“He told me he was from Maui and that he had just had a newborn baby and his girlfriend had left and that he was trying to get his life together,” Valdez said. “So he seemed pretty normal and conscientious, so it’s hard to fathom that this happened.”
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.