KALAOA — The allegation that James Mansker killed his wife, Marsha Mansker, has shocked and confused some residents of their Kona Highland neighborhood.
“Him shooting the wife, I couldn’t believe it. He is such a mild person,” said Hosea Kaluau, who has been the Manskers’ next-door neighbor since the Manskers moved in 17 years ago.
However, police believe 70-year-old Mansker shot his 62-year-old wife in the head before 7:11 a.m. Thursday. Mansker was released on Friday, pending further investigation. An autopsy to determine the exact cause of death for Marsha Mansker is scheduled for Monday.
Kaluau, his wife and the Manskers had grown close over the years.
“The wife and I, when we have holidays, we share holidays,” he said.
Over the years Kaluau had loaned them tools, watched their home and spent hours together, often on Kaluau’s covered driveway.
James Mansker could often be seen playing with his three grandchildren, including pushing them on bikes on the large driveway. How the weapon came to be in the house is baffling to Kaluau, as he never saw them with a gun and it doesn’t fit James Mansker’s personality.
“The only weapon I saw was a sword, like a military sword,” he said, gesturing to a length of about 2.5 feet.
The lack of noise makes things even more confusing, as Kaluau said he was awake and active at the time of the shooting and didn’t hear anything, despite the close proximity of their homes.
It wasn’t until Kaluau saw the lights of the first responders that he realized something happened, initially thinking one or the other had a medical problem.
He walked over and an officer informed him of the shooting.
“It was really weird for me and my wife because we were really close,” Kaluau said.
Kaluau said he remembered when the Manskers lived on Oahu for a year while Marsha Mansker underwent major surgery. They gave Kaluau a key and asked him to keep an eye on the property. In that time, Kaluau chased people out of the house three separate times. That included a couple who broke in through a rear window and slept in the Manskers’ bed.
When they returned, Marsha Mansker was unable to go in the sun because of her medication, Kaluau said, and her husband was always ready to help her.
The couple’s pets, a dog and cat, were left behind after the arrest. The dog is very much an indoor animal, Kaluau said, and during the investigation was seen running up and down the driveway. He and other neighbors were concerned she would be run over, but when Kaluau went to catch her, she hid under the one-story home.
The next day he got a hold of her, shivering, weak and hungry. He kept her at his home, intending to give her to one of the Manskers’ two daughters.
He said there had been financial trouble for the couple, which may have raised stress levels in the house. At one point Kaluau’s wife took the two down to a grocery to buy food, he remembered, and there had been concerns about making payments on the house.
Kaluau said both he and his wife are confused as to what could possibly have happened Thursday morning.
“What went on at that time, only the two of them know,” Kaluau said.
