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Due to the nature of this story, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of assault, sexual assault, and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. To get help on sexual assault, visit Spotify.com slash resources.
In the spring of 1986, the FBI Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico works up its latest serial killer profile. An unknown perpetrator has just claimed what appears to be his fifth victim, and the clock is ticking.
Police on the ground want him in custody yesterday, so they're supplying the FBI with as much information as they have. They believe their suspect is a Caucasian man in his 30s or 40s who drives a white, American-made cargo van. That's the vehicle spotted near Linda Pesky's abandoned car shortly before she turned up dead.
So they give Quantico everything they've got. It's not a lot, but it's enough to narrow the killer down to these probable characteristics. According to the FBI, they're looking for a guy with a squeaky clean record. He may be going through relationship spats with a girlfriend or a wife. And crucially, he seems to really know the area where he's been abducting and leaving his victims. They believe that's because he lives or works close by.
Which isn't an uncommon trait of serial killers. According to criminologist Scott Bonn, most of them operate in a comfort zone they're familiar with. And that seems to be the case now, in 1986. But one thing about this serial killer stands out. Because the area he seems to know well is right in the middle of a place most people think of as a quintessential paradise.
The Honolulu Strangler is terrorizing Oahu, Hawaii. I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. You can find us here every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. And we'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts.
Today's episode covers one of Hawaii's first serial killers. Between 1985 and 1986, five Honolulu women were sexually assaulted, strangled, and murdered by a killer known as the Honolulu Strangler.
Despite authorities' best efforts, no one was ever officially charged with the crimes. But decades later, an unconventional pair of investigators realize that someone missed a crucial piece of the puzzle. Stay with us. Hey y'all, Marci Martin here with a little Tampax story. One time I went on vacation in the Bahamas with some friends, and of course I got my period.
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Some think of Hawaii as a paradise, an island oasis covered in palm trees and beaches where sunny days well outnumber the cloudy ones. Still, bad things can happen in beautiful places, and those who lived in Honolulu during the mid-1980s knew that better than most. That's when the strangler prowled.
It's a warm Honolulu evening in May 1985. In a South Shore neighborhood, 25-year-old Vicki Purdy kisses her husband Gary goodbye. She's off for a night out with friends, and she'll be back by 9 or 10 p.m.
After Vicky leaves, Gary settles in for the evening. But he gets worried when the clock ticks past nine, then ten, and Vicky still isn't home. They've been married five years, and she's never stayed out late without letting him know. He tries her pager, but she doesn't respond. He tries again and again. Nothing. He can't shake the feeling that something's wrong.
By morning, Vicki's still not home, and Gary's in a panic. He contacts the police. Soon, word spreads through the South Shore, and people start calling Gary with information. He learns that Vicki never met up with her friends as planned. Then he hears from a local cab driver who says he dropped Vicki off at the Shorebird Hotel around midnight. That's where she planned to leave her car until it was time to go home.
Gary races to the hotel. Sure enough, he finds Vicky's car, but no Vicky. And the vehicle has a dent in the side that wasn't there the day before. It worries him even more. Was she in some kind of accident or altercation? The Honolulu police are also looking for Vicky.
Their search doesn't last long. Later that morning, they find a woman's body on the shore of Ke'ehi Lagoon. It's Vicky Purdy. She's partially nude, missing her underwear, and her hands are bound behind her back with a parachute cord.
Homicide detective Louis Souza takes charge at the crime scene. He notices marks on Vicky's body that indicate her assailant strangled her to death, but she fought back hard beforehand. He also takes note of the parachute cord that's wrapped around her hands,
It's unusual, not an item most people carry around with them. To eliminate the potential for false confessions and copycats, the police decide to keep this detail to themselves. When the medical examiner's office looks at the body, they do a vaginal swab and find sperm. It's an abnormally small amount, but it's enough to suggest that Vicki had intercourse prior to her death.
Except they can't prove that definitively. They think it's possible the water washed away most of the forensic evidence. It might be why the killer chose this location.
Keahi Lagoon rests on the southern shore of Oahu. Various harbors, islands, and coves can be found around it. All that's to say, there's a good amount of tidal activity and water flow there. Authorities turn their attention to what they think they can find. Who would do this to Vicky? They search for any possible motives or vendettas against her, and that's when they learn she may have been tied to another murder case.
Two workers were stabbed to death at a video rental store a year earlier. Vicki used to be an employee there. At the time, police believed it was a robbery gone wrong, but there were also reports of disgruntled employees and hints at sleazy business practices. Now officers wonder if Vicki's death is somehow related.
But ultimately, they don't find a connection. It's not even clear if Vicky worked there at the time of the murders, so it seems to just be a strange coincidence. That's the only lead authorities have, and once they dismiss it, Vicky's case goes cold. Over the next seven months, community members assume that her death was a tragic, one-time incident. Honolulu returns to its peaceful existence.
Until seven and a half months later, on January 14th, 1986. That's the morning a 17-year-old girl named Regina Sakamoto misses the school bus. She doesn't want anyone to worry, so she finds the nearest payphone, calls her boyfriend, and tells him she'll find a way to get to school. It's the last time anyone hears from her.
The next day, Regina's body is found near Ke'ehi Lagoon, about a mile from where Vicky was. The location isn't the only similarity. Regina was strangled too, and there's evidence of sexual assault. The medical examiner detected high levels of acid phosphatase, an enzyme present in male ejaculate, but this time they don't find any actual sperm.
Regina is also partially nude, and her hands are bound behind her back with a parachute cord. And not just that, the way the cord is tied is exactly the same. The killer wrapped it sideways first, then through the middle. It looks a lot like Vicky's murder. Authorities realize they could be dealing with the same killer.
There's one thing that's different. Regina is fastened to the rocks with an electrical extension cord. Detectives hypothesize that the perpetrator dumped her in the water to get rid of physical evidence, but didn't want her to get washed away. Because whoever did this wanted authorities to find her body.
Meanwhile, in the Sakamoto household, Regina's younger brother Omar hears the phone ring. His dad answers and quickly falls silent. Omar, who's around 10, can tell something's wrong. Eventually, his dad hangs up and says they have to go. Omar is confused as they get into the car.
When they arrive at the mortuary, his mother is waiting for them. She identifies Regina's body. And according to Omar, the experience wrecks her. She never fully recovers.
Neither does Omar. His sister's memory will linger, haunting him for years to come. The entire community mourns her death too, but before anyone has time to process things, a new development shocks the island.
At the end of January, 21-year-old Denise Hughes doesn't show up for work. It's been 16 days since Regina Sakamoto's body was found, and police are still on edge. That's probably why Denise's coworkers call the police immediately. The Honolulu community searches for the next two days.
Then, on February 1st, three teenagers go crabbing near Ke'ehi Lagoon. In all likelihood, they don't realize they're in the same area where the first two victims were found. They're just out having a good time. Until they notice something wrapped in blue plastic floating near the shore. Being curious teenagers, they pull it in. When they unwrap it, they're horrified. It's a dead body.
Authorities descend on the scene and soon confirm it's Denise Hughes. They clock some familiar details. There are signs of strangulation, and her hands are bound behind her back with a parachute cord. But her body is too badly decomposed to determine if she was sexually assaulted like the other victims.
Still, detectives feel certain there's a connection between all three murders. That would mean Honolulu has a serial killer on the loose. For now, they're reluctant to use this phrase in public. Technically, Hawaii has had one serial killer before. A man named Eugene Barrett murdered three victims over the span of 36 years. And he had been romantically involved with each of them.
This case is different. Women are dying faster than police can nail down leads, and there's no obvious personal connection between them. It's possible authorities want to gather more information about their killer first to avoid blind public panic. With this in mind, Detective Souza gets a call from his boss instructing him to head up a special task force. Their sole priority is to find the killer before they strike again.
Souza and his team start by creating a profile, an M.O. They lay out the facts. All three victims were young, white women who were strangled, sexually assaulted, bound, then dumped partially naked in or near Keahi Lagoon.
The lagoon is close to the Honolulu airport, which could mean the killer works there. This could also explain the parachute cord used to bind the women's hands. Maybe it's a tool of the trade. It's a good start, but two more months go by, and it's still all they've got.
Then, on April 2nd, 1986, they get another development, but it's not a welcome one. A few road workers find a body in a stream under an overpass. This time, the victim is 25-year-old Louise Medeiros.
Her family last saw her a week earlier, at her mother's funeral on the neighboring island of Kauai. Afterward, Louise returned to Honolulu, where she disappeared around the time she was catching a bus near the airport. Although her body wasn't dumped in the lagoon, the stream is only a few miles away, and everything else is the same as the other murders. The strangulation, the parachute cord.
Like Denise Hughes, decomposition prevents the medical examiner from confirming if Louise was sexually assaulted. Still, the similarities make it clear to detectives that they're dealing with the same perpetrator yet again. And much to their frustration, there's nothing about Louise's death that gives them a fresh lead.
The police still don't want to panic the community, but they're at a loss. They feel like they have to do something to help people protect themselves.
So, they put out a statement with a list of safety tips. According to case file K62, the Honolulu Strangler, the guidelines include the following: Travel in groups. Don't accept rides from strangers. Wear clothing that gives you freedom of movement. Don't burden yourself with too many packages. If stopped by someone in a car asking for directions, give your answers from a safe distance.
And perhaps most importantly, if your intuition tells you you're being followed, trust your instincts. As you might imagine, this terrifies the community. Women go out of their way to make sure their loved ones always know where they're going and when they're supposed to arrive. The warnings aren't enough. On April 29th, a fifth woman goes missing.
Linda Pesky is 36 and has a 7-year-old daughter. She works at McCaw Telepage. When she doesn't show up for her shift, her co-workers begin to worry. Her roommate does too and calls the police right away.
Authorities spring into action, and later that day, they find Linda's Toyota abandoned on the side of the highway. Their hearts sink. It looks like Linda had car trouble on her way home from work the night before. They think she might have walked to a nearby bus stop. Her car is just a few miles from the airport, and within three miles of where Vicky, Denise, and Regina were found.
But police haven't found a body, so they're not giving up. After performing a full forensic sweep of Linda's car, they bring it back to the side of the highway and stage it exactly where they found it. Then they set up a roadblock to question drivers. They want to know if anyone remembers seeing the Toyota on April 29th and can provide more information. They talk to hundreds of motorists.
The strategy works. A few witnesses recall seeing Linda's car parked on the side of the highway between 7 and 7.30 p.m. with the hazard lights on. Some say a white man in his late 30s or 40s was parked behind her in a white cargo van.
Detectives share this information with the public, hoping more witnesses can provide further detail. They emphasize the urgency and for the first time officially use the term "serial killer."
Authorities' concerns about creating panic prove valid. Someone has now killed four, potentially five women in less than a year. Across the beautiful, sun-soaked city, self-defense classes fill up and stores sell out of guns. At some point, one name dominates the airways and headlines: the Honolulu Strangler.
As paranoia sets in, Souza's task force receives hundreds of calls. Not everyone has information. Some people just want to share their suspicions. Anything to help. But none of the calls provide any solid leads, putting the task force back at square one.
That is, until six days after Linda's disappearance, when a man claims to have found some bones. For privacy reasons, we'll call him Bill Redford.
Redford leads the police to an area called Sand Island in Keahi Lagoon. The vegetation there is overgrown and unkempt, so it's not hard to imagine remains hiding in the brush. The island is also somewhat remote, but there are other people there that day, including a couple collecting cans and bottles to resell. Detectives are anxious to see what Redford has found. He brings them to the spot and shows them...
A pile of pig bones. The police are frustrated. It's another dead end. But then, about 75 yards away from where they stand, the can-collecting couple shout to them. They say they've found something. The officers rush over, then stop in their tracks. It's Linda's body.
She appears to have been brutalized in the same way as the other victims. But something else troubles the police. Redford leading them to this specific site feels too coincidental. It's almost like he wanted them to see the body, but he didn't want to be the one to find it because he knew it would look bad.
If that was his plan, it backfires. The police start looking into him. He's a 43-year-old white man, so he fits the general description of the guy seen on the highway with Linda. Then officers find out he drives a cream-colored van and that Redford works for a cargo airline at the airport. Detective Souza brings Redford to the station for questioning.
He learns that Redford has lived in Hawaii for the last four years since his employer transferred him to Honolulu. He was married when he first arrived on the island, but his wife and two sons didn't move with him. At some point, he took up with a new girlfriend. The police question his girlfriend and ex-wife. According to case files reporting, both women describe Redford as a smooth talker who mentions sex a lot.
They also say that during some sexual activities with him, they had their hands tied behind their backs. Redford's girlfriend has more to say. She tells detectives that she and Redford had some recent arguments. The five murders corresponded with each of those fights.
Between his job at the airport, his age and race, the van he drives, and his relationship troubles, Redford seems to fit the criminal profile the police and FBI have created. It's not looking good for Redford, but he swears he's innocent. He even agrees to a polygraph to prove it. Detective Souza straps him into the machine, and Redford tries to steady his beating heart.
Each time Sousa asks a question, Redford refuses to look at him and instead stares down at the floor. In the end, the results are inconclusive. But Detective Sousa doesn't think he needs a polygraph to know that Redford is guilty. He can tell that the man is hiding something based on his body language during questioning.
Sousa's gut instinct isn't enough to make an arrest. He has to convince the prosecutor, Peter Carlyle, that there's enough evidence to charge Redford. Sousa and Carlyle go back and forth. Ultimately, the prosecutor doesn't think they'll get a conviction. He tells Sousa they only have one shot at nabbing the culprit.
That's because double jeopardy laws prohibit someone from being tried for the same crime twice. If they charge Redford now, a jury might find him innocent, and that'll be the end of their search for justice. Carlisle encourages the detective to find more evidence, something that will indisputably prove Redford is the Honolulu Strangler.
Sousa understands where the prosecutor's coming from, but it doesn't mean he's happy about it. Reluctantly, he releases Redford.
As he watches the man leave the station, Sousa probably can't help but feel like they've just let a killer go free. And if that's true, it means more women may pay the price. With no leads on suspects, detectives turn their attention to identifying other possible victims. They pour through old case files to see if there might be earlier crimes they can connect to the strangler.
And they find one. Two years earlier, in 1984, a 22-year-old woman named Helen Correa went missing from a bus stop in Waipahu, about nine miles away from the Honolulu airport. A day later, a sugar worker found her body in an irrigation ditch in a cane field.
Like the other victims, Helen was a young woman in her 20s who disappeared from a bus stop and was found near a body of water. She was strangled and sexually assaulted. The similarities are striking enough to pique the interest of the task force, but they do flag a few differences between Helen and the other victims.
For one, Helen had cerebral palsy, which caused her to walk with a limp. And although her mom was white, Helen was half Filipino on her dad's side, so she doesn't match the other victims exactly. They were all able-bodied and presented white. And the area where she was discovered wasn't particularly close to where the other five victims were found. She was at least 15 miles away from Cahay Lagoon.
But serial killers are capable of adjusting their M.O. due to new circumstances or information. For example, they might switch weapons if they find another one more useful. Or they could find a new location to dispose of bodies. In 2019, FBI Special Agent John Douglas told Mental Floss that a killer will perfect his M.O. as he goes, if necessary.
In this case, it's also possible the strangler specified his type after killing Helen. Given this, the detectives reconsider their assumption about who the strangler might target. A few months later, a new victim seems to prove that point.
In October of 1986, five months after Linda Pesky's body was found, a hiker finds a skull by a freeway. Littered alongside it are other bones, clothing, and personal effects.
Authorities soon confirmed the bones belonged to a 21-year-old Japanese woman named Mayumi Guff. She was staying at the Hotel Plaza with her husband and son in the fall of 1985, and disappeared after walking to a nearby mini-mart. At first glance, it seems like Mayumi could be another victim of the Honolulu Strangler, but detectives aren't sure.
For one, her remains were found about 14 miles away from the airport, in the opposite direction of all the other victims. And since her body decayed in the year it took to find her, authorities don't know if she was strangled. There's also the matter of her race. Because Mayumi was Japanese, the investigators don't think she fits the killer's type. So the task force reverts back to the profile they'd initially created for their suspect.
They have no idea who that might be, though. Nor do they have any other new suspects in the Strangler case. Once again, they've hit a wall.
Their only saving grace is that the killings seem to stop after Linda Pesky's death. While the cases grow cold, at least there aren't any more victims. According to forensic behavioral consultant Dr. Mary Ellen O'Toole, there are reasons why a serial killer might stop. They could have moved, died, gotten permanently disabled, or incarcerated. Or sometimes it's due to a life-altering event.
If detectives are right about Bill Redford, then there's a possible explanation as to why he stopped killing. In June of 1986, a month after Linda's body was found, Redford flew to California for his son's graduation. Three days later, his son got a flat while driving, so he pulled over to change the tire. While switching out the wheels, another car fatally hit him.
Redford was devastated. Hoping for salvation, he became a born-again Christian. His spiritual journey caused him to leave Hawaii for the mainland. He lived in California for the better part of the next two decades, until passing away in 2003 at the age of 60.
Since Redford was never charged with anything, police never got a DNA sample from him. That means there's little chance of future DNA testing coming into play. It seems like they won't get any more answers out of Bill Redford, and with his death, the Strangler case freezes over entirely.
The victims' families aren't able to let it go. Over the years, they call for the police to reopen the cases. Though there are a few attempts, investigators never turn up anything new.
But eventually, that changes, because Omar Sakamoto still has some fight left in him. If you recall, Omar was only about 10 when his sister Regina was killed. Around the time he left high school, he started realizing how different things would have been if Regina were still alive.
Thirty years after the strangler's spree, Omar is a grown man, and it seems that feeling never left. Their father has since passed, and their mom has end-stage dementia, so Omar feels it's his responsibility to find justice for his sister. He knows investigators had a suspect they never charged. Since DNA analysis isn't an option, Omar tries something else.
It's not clear how they got in touch, but at some point, Omar starts talking with two investigators from the television series Breaking Homicide. Derek Levasseur is a former police detective, and his partner, Chris Mohandy, is a forensic psychologist. Their specialty is cold murder cases. When they hear from Omar, they make their way to Honolulu.
Derek and Chris get to work and soon find out about law enforcement's interest in Bill Redford. It's hard to ignore all the signs pointing to him, but they don't learn anything the police didn't know at the time. If Derek and Chris want to prove that Redford was responsible, they'll need something more.
They call in forensic pathologist, Conthe De Alwis, who performed two of the five autopsies in the Strangler case. She has the files on each of the victims, and walks Derek and Chris through the findings from the time of the murders. There's one detail she highlights: Whenever traces of male ejaculation were found on the victims, hardly any sperm was present.
Remember, the medical examiner detected a very small amount of sperm on Vicky, and no actual sperm was found on Regina, despite there being high levels of acid phosphatase. Linda was similarly found with a tiny amount of sperm, one or two.
This didn't stand out to police at the time. But Dr. De Alwis explains this is highly unusual. It means the assailant probably had some medical reason as to why they couldn't produce the typical amount of sperm. There are a few possible explanations, but the most likely is that the killer had a vasectomy.
Derek and Chris see this as crucial evidence. Around the time of the murders, only about 15% of men over the age of 40 had vasectomies. That's a large portion of the population. But when you pair that with other factors, it starts to narrow down the pool of suspects. How many white men in their 30s or 40s drove a white cargo van, worked at the Honolulu airport, and had a vasectomy?
Derek and Chris realize that if they can confirm Bill Redford had a vasectomy, that might be enough to prove his guilt. Derek manages to track down Redford's ex-wife. She tells them about the time she and her sons planned a surprise visit to see Redford in Honolulu. When they arrived, he was so irritated they were there, he wouldn't even let them into his house. He sent them on a flight back to California.
The story's odd, but strange behavior doesn't make a killer, and his ex-wife doesn't actually think Redford was involved in the murders. But she confirms that Redford did, in fact, have a vasectomy. Derek and Chris think they're onto something.
Then they get a call from a local woman named Naomi, who claims to have information. It's been decades, but she's still gripped with the same terror she felt at the height of the murders. She never spoke up because of it, but now she's finally ready to share her story.
In 1986, Naomi was an assistant manager at La Mariana Sailing Club. The restaurant overlooked the Cahay Lagoon with the airport in the distance. There, she had a regular who constantly tried to give her a ride home in his white cargo van. He made this offer every time he came in, which was about twice a week. Naomi always said no.
Once, the man got really angry when she accepted a ride from someone else. That incident occurred right before Linda Pesky's body was found. The man never returned to the sailing club after that. To this day, Naomi believes he was the Honolulu Strangler. Derek shows Naomi photos of Bill Redford. She tells them something along the lines of, "'Yes, that's him.'"
Derek and Chris now feel certain that Bill Redford was the strangler. But before they bring Omar their findings, they talk to the prosecutor who refused to charge Redford back in the day. Peter Carlyle is retired now, but he remembers the case well. He doesn't regret his decision not to charge Redford. They just didn't have enough evidence at the time. But he also admits that he believes Redford is responsible.
Derek and Chris explain the vasectomy, likely sure it's going to blow him away. Carlisle admits it's compelling evidence, but it's still just circumstantial. And unfortunately, it doesn't matter either way. If Redford were still alive, authorities could use new DNA technology to determine his guilt. But he's not. And therefore, the case will probably remain unsolved forever.
It's not what the Breaking Homicide team hoped for, but it's something. They believe that Bill Redford killed five women, and the prosecutor unofficially confirmed he thinks so too. They're ready to go to Omar and finally give him a name. However, they think that someone else should deliver the news, someone who's been a part of this investigation since the beginning.
Derek, Chris, and Omar sit down with Detective Louis Souza. Souza explains that while he was investigating the murders, he couldn't sleep. He goes on to tell Omar the news he's been waiting for, the likely identity of the Honolulu Strangler. But they'll probably never be able to prove it.
For Omar, it's a bittersweet end to his search for justice. He seems relieved to have a name, but he also has to accept there won't be a conviction. If Redford really was the Honolulu Strangler, he didn't have to face punishment for his crimes. He got to live out the rest of his days in California, leaving behind the devastation he wreaked across Oahu.
It doesn't feel like justice. Then again, there is some comfort to be found in believing that the killer is dead and buried. Even though he wasn't held accountable, he can't cause any more harm.
Thanks for listening to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. And we'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Amongst the many resources we used, we found Breaking Homicides, the Honolulu Strangler episode, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
This episode was written by Alex Burns, edited by Sarah Batchelor, Kate Murdoch, and Mickey Taylor, fact-checked by Katherine Barner and Laurie Siegel, and sound designed by Kelly Gary. Our head of programming is Julian Boirot, our head of production is Nick Johnson, and Spencer Howard is our post-production supervisor. I'm your host, Vanessa Richardson.