LIHU‘E — The dispute between Richard Shannon Costa and Weslyn Jerves started over $20.
It ended when Costa stabbed Jerves in the neck and then drove over her body on his way out of a Port Allen parking lot, according to versions of Costa’s confession, which were viewed by reporters of The Garden Island yesterday.
Costa, 36, of Kalaheo, and a cook at Steve’s Mini-Mart in Kalaheo, has yet to be arraigned and formally charged with Jerves’ murder, although that is expected to happen at 1 p.m. today.
According to the confession, though, Costa said he “lost it” after Jerves pulled a knife on him, and he took it away and used it to stab her in the back and throat.
Last Wednesday night, the two were fighting after Costa asked Jerves for $20 she owed him. She started cursing at him, the confession continued, and he tried to throw her out of the car.
That’s when she pulled the knife and Costa “acted on previous martial-arts and special-forces training,” took the knife away, and plunged it into her back, according to a written version of his confession viewed at the Lihu‘e courthouse by The Garden Island.
“You wanted to kill me, and now I’m going to jail because of you,” his confession reads, detailing how he grabbed her in a headlock and the two struggled.
She struggled and “the knife cut her throat,” the confession continued. He then cut the right strap on her top and cut her panties off, but he did not sexually assault her, Costa said in the court papers. Jerves also suffered wounds on her right hands, described in court papers as “defensive wounds” by detectives at the crime scene. A doctor’s autopsy report concluded that Jerves died from blood loss associated with the knife wounds.
He tossed her to the ground, threw the knife in the ocean, and pulled away from the dirt parking lot near the Japanese graveyard at Glass Beach, according to his confession. On the way out, he ran over something. It was Jerves, though Costa said he didn’t realize it at the time.
He then went home to his parents’ house, washed off the blood, and went to sleep. Jerves was found at 8:11 a.m. the next morning by tourists from Las Vegas, according to court records. They were looking at graves when they saw Jerves’ arm between two abandoned cars.
Costa is currently being held at the Lihu‘e cell block at Kaua‘i Police Department headquarters in lieu of $100,000 bail. According to court documents, Costa has agreed to take police to the place where he tossed the suspected murder weapon into the ocean.
The confession, taken by KPD Detective Samuel Sheldon, lead investigator on the case, was part of the “48-hour packet,” which establishes probable cause for police to detain someone for more than 48 hours without an arraignment.
Two different versions of the confession were viewed by The Garden Island, one which appears to be a word-for-word, verbatim transcription of a taped interrogation, and the other a detective’s paraphrased version of the account.
KPD detectives made the arrest after tracing Jerves’ movements over the previous 24 hours, said KPD Lt. Roy Asher. The two were spotted together by witnesses earlier Wednesday when Costa took Jerves to Nawiliwili Harbor, according to court documents. That allowed police to put the two together before the time Jerves’ body was found.
“It takes time. You’ve got to verify” every lead, Asher said. And police received a lot of calls regarding the murder.
False leads even led to the Friday arrest of another man for the murder, David Lee Sims, 48, of Kapa‘a. But Sims said he was released after 36 hours in custody, when police verified that Sims was not involved with the crime. The Kapa‘a man was released without charge, Asher said.
According to the confession, Costa and Jerves had known each other for a month and a half. The two frequented Hanama‘ulu Beach Park, but were not romantically linked. On Wednesday night, Jerves stopped Costa in Hanama‘ulu as he was driving toward Kuhio Highway, Costa’s confession stated.
She asked him which way he was going, and said “she wanted to go cruising” with him, according to Costa’s confession.
She promptly fell asleep in his car, and he woke her up when they reached the Port Allen beach’s parking lot, Costa said. That’s when the argument began.
Jerves would have been 19 on April Fool’s Day this year. She leaves behind her 20-month-old daughter, Ceriann “Waileka” Jerves Sanchez, her mother and father, Wesley and Rhonda Jerves, and three sisters, as well as grandparents, a great-grandfather, a niece, and numerous uncles, aunties, and cousins.
Visitation is scheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 22, at the Lihue Lutheran Church at 9 a.m. Services are scheduled for 11 a.m., with a burial to follow at Lihue Cemetery, and reception afterwards at Hanama‘ulu Beach Park.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
