Teenager Stabs Hawaiian Foster Mother to Death UPDATED

“A Hawaiian woman was found dead on Saturday morning – and her family and friends have said her 16-year-old foster son is the murder suspect.

Lt. Walter Calistro told HawaiiNewsNow Honolulu police found the body at Waimanalo Beach Park.

‘Early this morning around 8:00 a.m., police were called to the caretaker’s residence here for assistance,’ Calistro told the affiliate station.

‘Upon arrival they discovered a female victim with stab wounds,’ Calistro added. ‘She was pronounced dead on the scene and a male suspect was taken into custody at that time.’

The victim has been identified by local media as Jolyn Kipapa, wife of Kurt Kipapa.

Friends and apparent family members have spoken to local media outlets and claimed the victim’s foster son is the suspect.

At the time of Kipapa’s death, she and her husband were parents to 11 foster children, KHON2 reported.

‘Me and my husband been going together from school time, and we always wanted a lot of kids – and in fact when we first met and we first dated in the back of his football picture, he put someday we’ll have ten kids,’ Kipapa told HawaiiNewsNow of her wish to be a parent in 2001.

The teen suspect was filmed in handcuffs by the affiliate station.

Andy Jamila told KHON2 ‘This is really tragic. I know the Kipapas’ hearts. They’re not going to stop taking in and always helping to shelter foster kids. This was their lifelong dream.'”

 

Hawaiian woman ‘stabbed to death by 16-year-old foster son’[Daily Mail 7/6/14 by ZOE SZATHMARY]

“The 16-year-old Waimanalo boy charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing of his foster mother Saturday is suspected to have two types of mental illness, and his father and grandfather went to prison, relatives said.

Prosecutors are still deciding whether to ask a Family Court judge to allow him to be tried as an adult. Hawaii News Now is not releasing the boy’s name because he’s a juvenile.

Sources said for the last nine years or so, the boy was a foster child with Jolyn Kipapa and her family in Waimanalo.

“He has a condition that is passed along through his family on his father’s side, schizophrenia, bi-polar. The dad has been locked up many times,” said his biological mother, who said she lost custody of him about 14 years ago.

She said she believes the boy suffers from those two mental disorders, just like his grandfather, who served time in prison for murder, and his father, who’s in prison on the Big Island awaiting trial in a felony drug dealing case. The boy’s aunt – his father’s sister – told Hawaii News Now she too suffers from mental illness, and was institutionalized. The boy’s grandfather said he was in prison from 1973 to 1992 for murder and also was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

Hawaii News Now is not naming the family members of the boy to protect his identity.

An attorney from the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice said foster families dealing with mentally ill kids have to navigate sometimes slow bureaucracies at two state departments: Human Services that handles foster care and Health that treats the mentally ill.

“It’s the difficulty in two departments communicating with each other,” said Victor Geminiani, the executive director of the nonprofit group.

“The process can be very slow and grinding so that the result may not be a timely result, too late to really deal with the child’s downward spiral. Or may not be appropriate. Maybe group therapy or therapy once a week as opposed to more intensive therapy that’s necessary,” Geminiani said.

The Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice sued the state last fall on behalf of foster families because the state had not raised their pay since 1991. At $529 a month per month per child, the state’s payment to foster families was the lowest in the country in spite of Hawaii’s high cost of living, Geminiani said. The state has since raised the monthly payments to anywhere from $590 to $680 per child, depending on their age, he said. But Geminiani said his organization is still pursuing the lawsuit.

Marya Grambs, who is executive director of Mental health America of Hawaii, said, “When people are very, very ill, it’s very hard to take care of them.”

“For teenagers, it’s doubly hard because they are so young and they are vulnerable. And many times they come from families that do not protect them, and traumatize them,” Grambs said.

Grambs also worried that people will worry about mentally ill teens being violent, when few of them are.

“When we are talking about acutely ill or mentally ill children or adults, violence is rarely the outcome. It gets all the headlines. It’s in the news and it’s tragic. But suicide and suicide attempts are far more likely,” Grambs said.

Grambs said just four percent of the violent crime in the country is committed by the mentally ill. ”

Relatives: grandfather, father of teen charged in stabbing went to prison, are mentally ill[Hawaii News Now 7/6/14 by Keoki Kerr]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:“A young man accused of killing his foster mother made his first court appearance Friday.

Kaanoi Kipapa was 16 years old when police say he stabbed Jolyn Kipapa, 52, in July at their family home in Waimanalo. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Although he is a juvenile, Kipapa is being publicly identified because he will be tried as an adult.

Jolyn Kipapa was well-known in the tight-knit community.

She and her husband had opened their home to many foster children over the years and adopted Kipapa as a young boy.

Kipapa faces a second-degree murder charge. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.”

Teen accused of killing foster mother appears in court[KHON 10/31/14 ]

Update 2:“A 16-year-old Waimanalo boy was indicted by an Oahu grand jury Wednesday on a charge of murder for the stabbing of his adoptive mother.

Ka’Ano’i Kipapa told police he became enraged and he hit and stabbed Jolyn Kipapa repeatedly, according to court documents.

On Thursday, Family Court Judge Jennifer L. Ching waived jurisdiction of the youth, ordering that he be turned over to Circuit Court to be tried as an adult. Kipapa was then charged with second-degree murder.

Kipapa was arrested July 5 on suspicion of second-degree murder. His bail was set at $250,000 and he was transferred to Oahu Community Correctional Center from the Juvenile Detention Center in Kapolei.

At 7:48 a.m July 5, police received a call from a male who said he thought he had killed his mother and that “his mother had a knife in her chest.”

When police arrived at the state Waimanalo Bay Beach Park caretaker’s residence, they found a suspect covered in blood, according to a police affidavit.

Jolyn Kipapa’s body was discovered in the rear bedroom, and she had been stabbed multiple times. Besides the mother and son, no one else was in the Sherwood Forest home. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was “sharp-force injuries of head, torso, and extremities.” The matter of death was determined to be homicide.

In a statement to police, the teenager said “he became enraged and began to beat and stab” his foster mother with several knives. He said he called 911 and that after the call he went back and repeatedly stabbed his mother again.

Family members said Kipapa’s husband is the park’s caretaker and besides children of their own, the couple had raised and adopted several foster children.

“I always loved kids,” Jolyn Kipapa said in a 2003 interview with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. In 11 years, the Kipapas had cared for more than 20 children, according to the article. “God gives everyone a calling. I guess this is my calling,” she said.”

Waimanalo teen to be tried as adult in adoptive mom’s death[Honolulu Star Advertiser 11/5/14 by  Gregg Kakesako]