On Friday, May 1, 1987, Lynn Ebisuzaki, a 26-year-old Sunday school teacher, excused herself from her boyfriend’s home on the 500 block of Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo at about 9:15 p.m. to take a shower.
When she didn’t return by 10 p.m., police were called.
Officers found Ebisuzaki’s lifeless body — bound and gagged but fully clothed — on an adjoining vacant lot. She died of a single stab wound, and her death was ruled a homicide.
Days after Ebisuzaki’s death, police released two composite sketches of a possible suspect seen nearby. The man was described as a “local looking male” in his early 20s with a dark complexion and neck-length curly black hair. Witnesses said he was wearing dark clothing, holding a Budweiser beer can and bleeding from his left hand. Almost 38 years later, the murder of Ebisuzaki — a computer operator and junior accountant at the former Miko Meats — remains unsolved.
“Those of us who are still here, we don’t understand how or why this happened,” Gail Inamine, retired minister of education at Kinoole Baptist Church, where Ebisuzaki taught Sunday school and worked with elementary students in the church’s after-school enrichment program, said last week.
“She was a very kind person. When she was in high school and when she was going to college, she worked as an aide in our enrichment program. She wasn’t a loud person, but she was very engaging and friendly. She was caring.
“I never, ever saw her angry. So, it’s not understandable how this happened.”
Police recently issued a press release seeking new leads from the public. In that dispatch, they included a new composite sketch of a man Ebisuzaki was purportedly seen arguing with at the church sometime prior to her death.
Inamine said the sketch didn’t “ring a bell” for her.
Detective Derek Morimoto, who handles cold cases for the East Hawaii Criminal Investigations Section, has lived with the case since 2017, said Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins, who is Morimoto’s supervisor.
“As time goes by, Detective Morimoto looks deeper into the case and reviews more things. We are still just following up with certain things on that case. I guess you could call them leads,” Amon-Wilkins said. “The sketch, we’re hoping that generates more feedback, hopefully someone who may recognize that individual.
“We’re not saying that person’s a suspect. It’s just someone we’d like to identify and speak to.”
Ebisuzaki’s boyfriend was questioned, but there wasn’t evidence that would lead to charges against him. Amon-Wilkins said he has since died.
Also deceased are Ebisuzaki’s parents, Yasuji “Y” Ebisuzaki, who died in 1996, and Asako “Dora” Ebisuzaki, who died in 2004.
“Her parents owned the fishing store that used to be by … the (SCP Hilo) Hotel. They were very much a part of the community and leaders of the church,” Inamine said. “It was really like a death in the family. There was such a sadness. It hurt so much, because her parents were so active in the church, and you could tell how burdened they were.”
Dora Ebisuzaki worked as a preschool teacher at Kinoole Baptist, Inamine said.
“She’d talk about how she felt, not the loss. Not so much the anger, but how do we go on from here?,” Inamine said. “The investigation wasn’t going anywhere. And there was the sadness that she would express every day.
“But she didn’t talk about the murder itself and rarely would talk about her loss.”
Amon-Wilkins said forensic testing was done on “a great deal of evidence in this case.”
“This case has been reviewed by Detective Morimoto at length,” he said. “And there has been additional testing done, as well, on some items.”
That testing, according to Amon-Wilkins, has resulted in “nothing definitive at this point.”
“It’s important to bear in mind that in 1987, back at that time, DNA wasn’t really a thing in criminal investigations,” he said. “We didn’t have that mindset of — when you’re investigating a case and recovering items — how you handle certain things.
“But there has been a great deal of follow-up work and testing on items.”
Inamine said Ebisuzaki had three siblings, two older and one younger, but none remain on the island. And while Ebisuzaki and her immediate family are gone, they aren’t forgotten.
“On the day of her funeral, there were people lined up way down the street because of all the connections they had in the community,” Inamine said. “She could’ve been my little sister.
“Nobody had anything bad to say about her. That’s what makes this incomprehensible.”
Police ask anyone who may know the identity of the unknown male or have information about this incident to contact Detective Derek Morimoto at (808) 961-2380 or Derek.Morimoto@hawaiicounty.gov. Tips also can be emailed to unsolvedhomicides@hawaiicounty.gov.
Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers does not record calls or subscribe to any Caller ID service.
All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.