Defense says abusive boyfriend did it; threatened her with a machete
Jul. 19—Trial got underway Tuesday for Hailey Dandurand, "the girl with the pink hair, " accused of the gruesome Dec. 7, 2017, murder of Telma Boinville at a North Shore vacation rental.
Trial got underway Tuesday for Hailey Dandurand, "the girl with the pink hair, " accused of the gruesome Dec. 7, 2017, murder of Telma Boinville at a North Shore vacation rental.
Dandurand is also accused of kidnapping Boinville along with her 8-year-old daughter, Makana Boinville Emery, who at the time told her father that the captors who taped her mouth and tied her to a bedpost in the upstairs master bedroom as the "boy with the green hair and the girl with the pink hair."
The tape prevented her cries from being heard, but even if she did cry out, her mother would have been unable to hear her, said Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell during his opening statement. Boinville was lying downstairs in a pool of blood, her hands and feet hogtied together, a garbage bag over her head, which had been "cleaved open by a machete."
Bell said Dandurand and her then-boyfriend, Stephen Brown, had broken into the vacation rental when Boinville, who had gone to do some touch-up cleaning before guests were to arrive at 3 p.m., interrupted them.
The girl's father, Kevin Emery, spread the description on social media, and a photo of Dandurand and Brown surfaced. "Makana immediately identified they were the two, " Bell said.
Her pink hair replaced by black, Dandurand appeared for trial Tuesday donning a gray, long-sleeved knit dress and black face mask.
Bell said it was Dandurand who used Boinville's debit card at a Taco Bell and Walmart in the Mililani Town Center ; wore Boinville's earrings made for her by her husband ; and was seen wearing Makana's backpack. A witness saw her getting out of Boinville's family pickup truck at the town center, where community members and police found them.
Boinville's DNA was found on Dandurand's feet and left hand, and fingerprints were found on an upstairs window louver and a candy wrapper ; her DNA was all over Brown's hands and clothing.
Her lawyer, Barry Sooalo, said his client was 20 years old and homeless, living on the beach with her 23-year-old boyfriend. She admits to burglarizing the home to get food but denies all other charges.
"The person who killed her has already been convicted of killing Telma Boinville, " namely Brown, and Brown forcefully removed Makana and tied her up, Sooalo said.
He said Dandurand was attending Kapiolani Community College in August 2017 when she met Brown—her first love—and found him attractive and interesting.
Danduran's attorneys are shifting all the blame to Brown, saying court documents show he physically abused Dandurand, and "browbeat her mercilessly, brutally, in the weeks preceding " the murder.
Sooalo helped Dandurand file a petition for a restraining order in May 27, 2020, 2-1 /2 years after the crimes occurred and while Brown was already in custody in the murder and kidnappings. Judge Natasha Shaw issued a 10-year protective order.
He alleges that Brown slammed a machete near Dandurand's head. "She understood what it meant : 'If you don't comply, you may be next.'"
Brown is awaiting sentencing in August. He was tried and convicted Jan. 20 of second-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and burglary.
At his own trial, Brown claimed Dandurand was the mastermind of the murder and other crimes. He admitted to the kidnappings and burglary, helping to tie Boinville and taking her daughter from their truck and into the house at Dandurand's direction. But he claimed he was shocked when he came into the house and discovered Boinville's bloody body.
The state said in Brown's trial that the number of weapons suggested two people were involved in the stabbing and assault, including a machete, metal meat tenderizing tool, a bat and knives.
Sooalo said Brown was in the kitchen when Boinville entered and startled him, so he "overpowered her, caused her physical injuries and ultimately murdered her."
Sooalo said Dandurand comes from a good family in Bend, Ore, and that her mother is a school principal and father is hardworking. Her parents were in attendance at trial along with her grandmother.
In contrast, he said Brown "bounced around between homes ; his parents didn't want him, " and was living on the streets of Waikiki.
Sooalo said Dandurand invited him to live with her in a single-family home she shared with her brother and other students, but the roommates wanted him out of the house, so she followed Brown.
Boinville's friends, who sat through the Brown trial, have come again to support her family and her memory, despite having to look at photos of her mutilated body, which elicited painful emotions and tears.
