HILO — Police have made a second arrest in connection with the disappearance and possible homicide of 44-year-old Dante Peter Gilman of Hawaiian Acres.
HILO — Police have made a second arrest in connection with the disappearance and possible homicide of 44-year-old Dante Peter Gilman of Hawaiian Acres.
At 10:37 a.m. Friday, 19-year-old Kawena K. Krause of Kurtistown was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder.
He had not been charged as of Friday evening and is being held at the Hilo police cellblock while detectives investigate.
Krause is the second person arrested in the disappearance of Gilman, the son of a best-selling novelist. Police say they have evidence Gilman was murdered but have not disclosed what that evidence is.
At 12:40 p.m. Thursday, 30-year-old Claude Keone Krause of Kurtistown was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. He had not been charged as of early Friday evening and is also being held at the Hilo police cellblock while detectives investigate.
Gilman was reported missing on Jan. 10. Police said in a bulletin at that time he was last seen in Hawaiian Acres on or about Dec. 30.
Another bulletin was issued on Wednesday stating that a homicide investigation had been opened and that police were searching for Gilman’s body.
Gilman is the son of the late Peter Gilman, a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in the 1950s and the author of “Diamond Head,” a No. 1 New York Times Best Seller that was made into a 1963 film starring Charlton Heston.
The elder Gilman died in Hilo in 1999 at age 73.
Claude Keone Krause is a convicted felon who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the December 2000 sex assault and burglary of the late crime victims’ advocate, Mayapple McCullough, in her Waa Waa home. McCullough filed suit against Krause in 2002 and was awarded $350,000.
He was free on $22,000 bail on charges of auto theft, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer for an October incident in Kurtistown. During the arrest, a 41-year-old Puna patrol officer sustained minor injuries.
Court documents indicate the younger Krause has two convictions, neither for felonies.
Police have released few details on the case, including if or how the two Krauses are related.
Anyone with information about Gilman’s disappearance and possible murder is asked to contact Detective John Rodrigues Jr. at 961-2384 or jrodrigues@co.hawaii.hi.us or Detective Norbert Serrao at 961-2383 or nserrao@co.hawaii.hi.us. Those who prefer anonymity may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.