Big Island police search home of suspects in fatal stabbing

HILO, Hawaii (AP) - The home of four people suspected of involvement in the stabbing death of a Big Island homeless man was searched Friday by Hawaii County police.

A 22-year-old man on Thursday was held on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death Tuesday of Brian Gene Whetten, 43, near the Hilo Bayfront soccer fields.

The suspect had not been charged as of Friday night, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (http://bit.ly/1zGM0iI) reported.

A man and two women who live with the suspect were booked on suspicion of being accessories. The four live in a home in Honomu.

"We're looking for a weapon, as well as clothing and other evidence," said Police Capt. Robert Wagner of Hilo Criminal Investigation Division, after the search.

Police have not confirmed a motive in the stabbing.

"There's some idea right now, but we're trying to verify it," Wagner said.

Whetten had a history of convictions for public drinking, harassment, disorderly conduct, petty theft and shoplifting, according to court records.

Police said he was confronted by two men shortly after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and stabbed in a grassy area between several Kilauea Avenue businesses and the soccer fields.

He managed to walk to the parking lot of a Long's Drug Store, where bystanders, including Brent Tamashiro, a Hawaii Army National Guard medic working at a nearby bank as a security guard, and Lily Cash, a University of Hawaii at Hilo nursing student, came to his aid.

The four people detained live in a home that was the site of a fatal stabbing in July 2012. Daniel Schuster, 51, was convicted of manslaughter in the death of housemate Joshua Trickel in that case.