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than once. >> he brought it up with the medical examiner's investigator and was basically telling them, "this is not a strangulation case. " >> in fact, said the prosecutor, ken tried to persuade the examiner not to do an autopsy. but, of course, there was one. the result took months but, sure enough, cause of death, said the medical examiner, brain damage due to ligature strangulation. when an arrest warrant was issued, detective cambra served it personally. >> police arrested 45-year-old kenneth wakisaka tonight. prosecutors say he strangled his 52-year-old wife last april. tonight, police charged him with murder in the second degree. >> how'd he react? >> he said, "nick, you know i didn't kill my wife. i didn't kill my wife. " >> in 2002, two years after their mother's death, tammie and tiffany came back to hawaii. this time to the courthouse where ken wakisaka went on trial for murder. >> he took the life of another human being, and that human being was our mother. >> this was a murder by strangulation. it was domestic violence at its ultimate. >> in his opening statement, prosecutor dan oyasato quoted from ken's own statements to accuse him of murder. >> can you tell if a person has been strangled during autopsy? these are the words of the defendant to an investigator from the medical examiner's office. >> in court the medical examiner repeated her opinion that shirlene was strangled, said she found ligature marks on her neck. and in court the prosecutor played a tape of that recorded phone call with
willing ally in detective cambra. one plan they came up with together? secretly recording a phone call with ken. tammie made the call from the police department. the strategy was for tammie to act friendly, supportive. >> hello. >> ken? >> yeah. >> hey, it's tammie. >> ken told tammie he was deeply concerned for shirlene. >> i love her. it's not the same without her here. i miss her very much. >> but ken also said he was suspicious of tammie and her sister. >> the feeling i'm getting is like -- i'm feeling like you're going to plan on ganging up on me. and it sounds like you're going to maybe sue me for manslaughter or something, or murder. >> still, he spoke with tammie at length about the day. he
whom the prosecution didn't call. >> thing is, it's an iron-clad rule. if a grand jury asks to hear from a witness, the prosecution must comply. didn't in this case. it wasn't a minor witness, either, said edmunds, but someone in a position to know a great deal about what really happened to shirlene. >> the wakisakas had an upstairs room that they rented out to a guy, and he had been there and seen a lot of what went on that morning. >> though the grand jury didn't hear from the roommate, detective nick cambra did. cambra asked him, what did shirlene say to ken on the day she died? the defense provided us an excerpt of detective cambra's interview with the witness. >> she was asking ken to come here, you know, be by my side. she did say she wanted to die in peace. >> testimony that seemed very much in ken's favor, testimony the grand jury that indicted him never heard. defense
hear from the roommate, detective nick cambra did. cambra asked him, what did shirlene say to ken on the day she died? the defense provided us an excerpt of detective cambra's interview with the witness. >> she was asking ken to come here, you know, be by my side. she did say she wanted to die in peace. >> testimony that seemed very much in ken's favor, testimony the grand jury that indicted him never heard. defense attorney edmunds again went to court, and again won. so tell me, from a practical point of view, what did those victories mean for ken? >> well, from a practical point of view, it meant that indictment got dismissed. >> dismissed. as if he'd never been charged in the first place. ken was no longer free on bail. he was simply free. >> and now we're back to a point as though the case never was brought in the first place. and that's frustrating.
>> it was actually a journal about all the different ways that he'd abused her. "i have spit at shirlene. i have yelled at shirlene. i have pushed shirlene. " >> there it was in his own hand, evidence she left for you to find? >> yes. >> and suddenly the sisters truly believed their mom was sending secret clues that almost screamed "open in case of death. " attempting to solve the mystery, they found a willing ally in detective cambra. one plan they came up with together? secretly recording a phone call with ken. tammie made the call from the police department. the strategy was for tammie to act friendly, supportive. >> hello. >> ken? >> yeah. >> hey, it's tammie. >> ken told tammie he was deeply concerned for shirlene. >> i love her. it's not the same without her here. i miss her very much. >> but ken also said he was suspicious of tammie and her sister. >> the feeling i'm getting is
the result took months but, sure enough, cause of death, said the medical examiner, brain damage due to ligature strangulation. when an arrest warrant was issued, detective cambra served it personally. >> police arrested 45-year-old >> how'd he react? >> he said, "nick, you know i didn't kill my wife. i didn't kill my wife. " >> in 2002, two years after their mother's death, tammie and tiffany came back to hawaii. this time to the courthouse where ken wakisaka went on trial for murder. >> he took the life of another human being, and that human being was our mother. >> this was a murder by strangulation. it was domestic violence at its ultimate. >> in his opening statement, prosecutor dan oyasato quoted from ken's own statements to accuse him of murder. >> can you tell if a person has been strangled during autopsy? these are the words of the defendant to an investigator from the medical examiner's office. >> in court the medical examiner repeated her opinion that shirlene was strangled,
shirlene say to ken on the day she died? the defense provided us an excerpt of detective cambra's interview with the witness. >> she was asking ken to come here, you know, be by my side. she did say she wanted to die in peace. >> testimony that seemed very much in ken's favor, testimony the grand jury that indicted him never heard. defense attorney edmunds again went to court, and again won. so tell me, from a practical point of view, what did those victories mean for ken? >> well, from a practical point of view, it meant that indictment got dismissed. >> dismissed. as if he'd never been charged in the first place. ken was no longer free on bail. he was simply free. >> and now we're back to a point as though the case never was brought in the first place. and that's frustrating. >> how do you get your head
warrant was issued, detective cambra served it personally. >> how did he react? >> he said i did not kill my wife, i did not kill my wife. >> in 2000, two years after the mother's death, tell me in tiffany come back to their -- hawaii, where kenneth wakisaka went on trial for murder. >> you do the life of another human being, and that was our own mother. >> he was not murdered by strangulation, it was domestic violence and it's. ultimate >> in his opening statement, prosecutor dan oyasato quoted from ken's own statements to accuse him of murder. >> can you tell if a person has been strangled during autopsy? these are the words of the defendant to an investigator from the medical examiner's office. >> in court the medical examiner repeated her opinion that shirlene was strangled, said she found ligature marks on her neck. and in court the prosecutor played a tape of that recorded phone call with
at shirlene. i have pushed shirlene. " >> there it was in his own hand, evidence she left for you to find? >> yes. >> and suddenly the sisters truly believed their mom was sending secret clues that almost screamed "open in case of death. " attempting to solve the mystery, they found a willing ally in detective cambra. one plan they came up with together? secretly recording a phone call with ken. tammy made the call from the police department. the strategy was for tammie to act friendly, supportive. >> hello. >> ken? >> yeah. >> hey, it's tammy. >> ken told tammy he was deeply concerned for shirlene. >> i love her. it's not the same without her here. i miss her very much. >> but ken also said he was