LIHU‘E — No, there was not a triple murder near Kapa‘a Middle School last weekend, Kaua‘i Police Department sources confirmed. No, there have been no Eastside murders since the discovery of Amber Jackson’s body July 3 in the woods of
LIHU‘E — No, there was not a triple murder near Kapa‘a Middle School last weekend, Kaua‘i Police Department sources confirmed.
No, there have been no Eastside murders since the discovery of Amber Jackson’s body July 3 in the woods of Kealia.
No, there hasn’t been a rash of attacks or assaults on women in the Kapa‘a, Kapahi or Kahuna Road areas since Jackson disappeared in late June.
No, the so-called Hare Krishna lady who often dances along Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a was not found murdered, strangled, tossed into a dumpster or otherwise harmed.
Despite efforts to quell suspicions of a serial killer on the loose and other rumors of rampant violence, many Eastside residents remain spooked.
Some women who used to walk or run alone in the Kahuna Road area where Jackson lived said they will no longer do so.
A Kapa‘a man bought two Doberman pinschers to protect his wife.
Another Kapa‘a man said he would not let his wife or teenage daughters go anywhere alone.
Radha Reyes, who many know as “the dancing lady,” “is indeed perfect,” said Joanna Wheeler, a concerned Eastside woman who has changed her exercise routine out of fear.
Wheeler said Reyes received around 100 telephone calls from people who heard and believed the rumors of her untimely demise, some of them “sobbing for her ‘ill fate.’”
Reyes agreed to have a recent photo of her published to prove she is alive and well.
“Apparently there are several different versions of the ‘attack,’ of its nature and location. Some people even thought her deceased,” said Wheeler.
“So when I took the picture I told her I would send it to you and she posed for it with her big smile. This was taken in Kapa‘a at the Rainbow Raw Food new restaurant,” Wheeler said in an e-mail.
While KPD investigators remain tight-lipped regarding the ongoing murder investigation of Jackson, rumors that can likely be put to rest include one that her murder was a professional hit, that she had witnessed a double murder on the Mainland and was sent to Kaua‘i in some sort of federal witness-protection program.
The reason that scenario can be ruled out is that when she lived in various parts of Marin County, California, she carried the same name, and if someone is relocated in witness protection they are normally given a new name.
As reported in the Marin Independent Journal, California friends of Jackson’s are planning a memorial celebration in Novato, Calif., on Aug. 7, from noon to 3 p.m. at Stafford Lake County Park.
Jackson, 57, a former administrative worker for Legal Aid of Marin and other local nonprofits, lived in numerous Marin County towns before moving to Kaua‘i in 2000, the newspaper reported.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
