Waipio Valley murder trial opens

HILO — The sister of a 49-year-old Waipio Valley man shot to death two years ago in the valley testified in court Tuesday that the defendant, Wayne Teves, had threatened at least twice to kill her brother if she didn’t pay him money he allegedly thought he was owed for the death of his daughter.

Sharon Schleigh, the sister of Thaine Price, testified during the opening day of Teves’ trial for second-degree murder that Teves blamed Price for the Nov. 28, 2015, death of his 35-year-old daughter, Jasmin Teves. Schleigh said that according to Teves, Price, a neighbor, intentionally caused Jasmin Teves stress and allegedly hastened her demise from lupus.

Schleigh had been a friend of Teves’ late wife, Dawn, but had moved to Arizona and had not heard from Teves in years before he called her “out of the blue” in late 2015. She said he continued to call repeatedly, sometimes angrily, demanding what she called “retribution” in the form of $1,500 for a truck. She said she wanted to help but didn’t have much money and doubted Teves could get a serviceable four-wheel-drive truck, a necessity in the remote Hamakua Coast valley, for $1,500.

“Our conversations, sometimes they were calm, and other times they were him yelling and swearing at me and telling me that he was going to kill my brother and that actions would happen if I didn’t take care of things right away,” Schleigh said.

Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Lee said in his opening statement Teves had reportedly found Price’s body, clad only in shorts, partially submerged in a river that runs behind Teves’ home on March 3, 2016.

Teves then went to a neighbor’s home, where the 911 call was made, since Teves had no phone. Price had been shot twice, in a forearm and his torso.

According to Lee, there had been a longstanding feud between Teves and Price about Price allegedly using rocks to dam up the river above Teves’ home.

“Mr. Price and Mr. Teves had been involved in a running dispute about Mr. Price diverting water from the river so that he could drive across that river to get to his property,” Lee told the jury of eight women and four men. “Unfortunately, the diversion of the water caused some of it to go into the residence where Mr. Teves was living.”

Lee conceded Price was not well-liked.

“You will hear a lot about Thaine Price. Most of it will not be good. I’m not gonna lie to you about that,” he said.

Lee also told the jury Teves had confessed to killing Price to two men during a drive to go fishing, saying “It’s done.”

Brian De Lima, Teves’ court-appointed attorney, described Price as “a bully” who had terrorized his much-older client, and said the two men Lee referred to had gotten together to concoct the alleged confession. He said another individual in the vehicle didn’t hear it.

De Lima told the jury there was no forensic evidence tying Teves to Price’s death. He also suggested police conducted a sloppy crime scene investigation the day after Teves’ body was discovered.

“The detectives, they don’t find a single casing. They don’t find any bullets in Wayne Teves’ house … of any caliber, for any gun. They don’t find a single drop of blood anywhere in Wayne Teves’ property, house, nowhere. … Not on the branches, not on the bushes, not on any leaf, not anything. They don’t do a Luminol search, where you spray and use a black light for traces of blood. … They recovered clothing, but they didn’t send any clothing for any type of testing. You won’t hear about gunshot residue. They don’t do any of that.”

The trial continues at 1 p.m. today in the courtroom of Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.