Latest / NO FILTER / He Helped Them Get Pregnant Then Became Her Lover_ The Murder of Jon Tokuhara_True Crime Documentary

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He Helped Them Get Pregnant Then Became Her Lover_ The Murder of Jon Tokuhara_True Crime Documentary · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: In January twenty twenty two, a man dressed in a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: bucket style hat, sunglasses, and two scarves entered an independent
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: healthcare clinic in Waipahu, Hawaii. Forty eight seconds later, the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: man left. Forty seven year old John Tokuhara would be
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: found dead inside. Despite what should have been a wealth
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of evidence, security cameras, shellcasings left at the scene, even
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the hat that the assailant wore left behind, this is
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a case that seemed to prove only one thing, that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: things were more complicated than they appeared. Proving the identity
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of this killer would be a difficult, nearly impossible task.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Hi there, I'm Kevin, and welcome to Just Thought Lounge.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Today we're taking a look at a lesser known, but
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: fascinating case out of Hawaii. This is the story of
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: an investigation and prosecution that caught many people by surprise.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: It developed from a straightforward case. All signs seemed to
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: point in the same direction. But then as more details
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: came to light, new evidence emerged, existing evidence was questioned,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and the picture of what really happened became far less clear.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Let's take a look. The town of Waipahu is in
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Honolulu County, Hawaii. It is located along the northern shore
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: of both Middle Lock and West block of Pearl Harbor.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Once the location of a sugar cane plantation, the town
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: on the island of Oahu is now home to about
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: forty thousand residents. It's a short drive to the picturesque
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of a beach. The morning of Thursday, January thirteenth, twenty
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: twenty two was warm with clear skies in Waipahu. Around
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: eight a m. That morning, Lily Tokuhara took a drive
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: out to check on her son, John. Forty seven year
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: old John Tokuhara had owned and operated a healthcare business
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: in Waipahu for nearly twenty years. The previous evening, John
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: had told his mother that he planned to drop by
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and pick up some dinner that she had made him,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: but John never turned up. When Lily arrived at the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: acupuncture and healthcare clinic, she saw her son's white Tacoma
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: pickup truck parked near to the doorway. She entered the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: office through the back door, which was unlocked. The front door,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: which faced Wipahu Depot Street, had not been in use
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: for at least six months. It had been secured with
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: a chain inside lily spotted her son. John was lying
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: on the floor of his office, a pool of blood
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: by his head. He was unresponsive. A call was placed
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to emergency services immediately, though the distrop mother found it
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: too difficult to attempt medical aid, it was far too late.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Officer John Mintern of the Honolulu Police Department was the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: first to arrive on scene. He found one spent shell
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: casing on the office floor, a twenty two caliber. Later,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: two additional casings were also located, one underneath John Tokuhara
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and another behind the refrigerator. John's autopsy later determined that
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: his cause of death was a gunshot to the head.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: He had in fact been shot no less than four times.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: It was a brutally efficient and heartless killing. Multiple headshots
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: delivered to the face suggested a crime of passion. Furthermore,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: a significant amount of cash was located near to John
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: in his office, approximately four thousand dollars in large bills.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: If the murderer had been aware of the money, they
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: had clearly not been interested in it. The murder appeared personal,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: yet the method quick and callous. John Tokuhara was unmarried.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: He did not have any children. He did, however, have
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: a very close knit family and loving longtime friends. He
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: was particularly close with his mother, Lily, and was a
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: loving uncle to his sister's two boys. John had loved
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: everything involving the ocean, including fishing, surfing, and paddling. After
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: earning a master's degree in Chinese medicine and acupuncture, he
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: had opened and independently ran the Tokuhara Acupuncture and Healthcare Clinic.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Friends spoke of him adoringly. A staple in Waipahu for
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: nearly twenty years, John's murder came as a horrible shock
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: to the entire community.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: This tragedy has really brought the community together, I think
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: in Waipahu, and so you know, the community, our friends,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: you know, everybody has just rallied together and shown so
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: much support for the family.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: You know, he's an acupuncturist and so he's a healer.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: He's helped so.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Many people, commity, he had friends and so many different circles,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: and he was just someone that was just loved. He
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: gave back to his community, gave scholarship, he's all of
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: all the people.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: He's all about the community, and you guys, he just
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: stripped that away. What a love we have with him
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: or the love you have for us away, God bless
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: your song.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: It took some time for investigators to put together all
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the pieces of John Tokuhara's life. No potential suspects emerged.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: After speaking with friends and family, John had been widely admired,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: no one could point to a motive. Investigators began constructing
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: a timeline from the night before John was found, tracing
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: his last communications and movement. Two cell phones, both of
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: which belonged to John, were located on the desk in
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: his office. One of these devices was not in service
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: and aim to only function when connected to Wi Fi.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Investigators were told that the Wi Fi onlyphone was only
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: used to play the game Pokemon Go. That is exactly
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: what John appeared to be doing the night before. The
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: application was opened on his WiFi phone at about five
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: forty pm and never closed. The phone powered off at
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: eight forty five. The battery had depleted. Whether John was
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: actively engaged with the game for three hours or was
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: killed while he played, was uncertain. After speaking with John's mother, Lily,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: detectives learned that she had last been in contact with
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: her son at just after six pm. He had sent
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: her a text from his main device making the arrangements
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: to collect dinner. He did not, as we know, arrive
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: as planned. There was no further activity on that device
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: after six eighteen pm. With this time frame in mind,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: security camera footage from the area surrounding the acupuncture clinic
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: was collected to see if anything or anyone suspicious had
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: been captured. At about three minutes before six o'clock, a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: white four door Silverado pickup truck with Hawaii plates was
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: captured turning north onto Waipahu Depot Street from Farrington Highway.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: After a handful of quick turns in the area, the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: truck passed the intersection a few streets over from the
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: clinic and escaped from view. However, from the next junction over,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: an individual emerged moments later and continued on foot towards
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Wipawhu Depot Street, approaching the acupuncture clinic from the back.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: The person is wearing a light colored bucket style hat,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: dark colored sunglasses, as well as a head covering and scarf.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: They carried a brown shopping bag. The person entered John's
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: office at about six sixteen pm, roughly the same time
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: that the last activity was noted on John's main cell phone.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Only forty eight seconds later, the same individual was shown leaving.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: No one else was spotted entering or leaving the building
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: until Lilly arrived the next morning at eight am. As
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the white Silverado drove past the businesses on Way Pahu
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Depot Street, the front license plate was visible. A still
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: photograph taken from the video surveillance, enhanced and examined by
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: law enforcement, seemed to show that the first three characters
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: in the license plate appeared to be letters and the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: last three characters appeared to be numerals. An exact read
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: of the plate was impossible. There did not appear to
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: be any distinguishing marks on the Silverado. There are no
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: items visible in the truck bed, but the vehicle was
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: nonetheless the best available lead. The HPD's Strategic Enforcement Detail
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: found fifty three Silverado pickup trucks registered in the state
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: that matched the information. They had four doors, white in color,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: likely a twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen model, and a
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: license plate that they believed had three letters followed by
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: three numbers. Investigators claimed that they were then able to
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: exclude fifty two of the fifty three vehicles on their list.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: According to police records, detectives did so systematically they requested photographs,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: visited and viewed the trucks in person, as well as
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: considered the location of their ownership. Process of elimination left
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: only one possibility as a match to the one captured
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: on the security footage. The final remaining Silverado was registered
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to a thirty four year old ex client of John's,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: a man named Eric Thompson. Eric, who ran his own
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: successful contracting business, had seen John for treatment of carpal
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: tunnel some years earlier. It was a connection between the two,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: but that was all. Eric, married to his high school
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: sweetheart and a loving father to their three year old daughter,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: was not exactly a likely suspect. What motive would the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: young contractor have had to murder a man that had
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: treated his pain years before. When detectives sifted through the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: correspondence on John's main cell phone, they found thousands of
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: messages over fifty six hundred and one month alone with
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: a woman named Joyce Joyce Thompson. The messages between Joyce
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and John were extremely intimate. The two exchanged nude photos, videos,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: and explicit messages. The romantic relationship appeared to have gone
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: on for some time, but had ended abruptly nearly seven
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: months prior to John's death, when Joyce's husband Eric found
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: out about their relationship. Based on their exchanges, it seemed
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: that John had been far more committed to the relationship
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: than Joyce. From the start. He had been the first
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: one to say I love you, and continued to express
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: his feelings frequently Over a period spanning from mid May
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to late July twenty twenty one, John pressed Joyce to
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: transition their relationship from an affair to a longer term commitment.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: For her part, Joyce was certainly a willing participant, but
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: she expressed some concern. She told John that she would
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: continue to see him, but that she would not leave
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: her husband. Eventually, Joyce grew worried over the secrecy of
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: their affair and the detriment it could have to her marriage.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: In July, she messaged John about Eric's discovery of their affair.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Eric confronted his wife over a late night trip from
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the house she made while he was away for work.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: He had spotted her on their home security cameras sneaking
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: out of the house at one a m. Confessing to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the entire affair. Joyce agreed to end things with John,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: and she and Eric decided to take steps to salvage
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: their marriage. Joyce and Eric Thompson met at Kilani High
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: School in East Honolulu and were married on January fourteenth,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, the day of their thirteenth anniversary. The ceremony
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: was held at a neighbour's beachfront estate and attended by
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: a large gathering of family and friends. The young couple
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: made a move to Kailua, a roughly thirty minute drive
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: from Waipahu. Together, they had shared major milestones, Eric's graduation
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: from the University of Hawaii and the birth of their
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: only child, a daughter, two years before John's murder. From
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a distance, the couple's marriage and their family life appeared
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: nearly perfect. Indeed, it was the couple's desire to have
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: a baby that led Joyce to seek John's services. An
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: old high school teacher had introduced Eric and Joyce to
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: John and suggested he could help them. Joyce initially began
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: seeing him for treatment for both fertility and fact back pain.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Following a heartbreaking miscarriage. The couple was trying everything they
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: could to get pregnant. At that time, Eric believed that
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: John Tokuhara was helping them both indeed he had been,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: though after the birth of their daughter, Joyce's appointments continued
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: and her relationship with John, it seems, grew into something more.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: With these revelations coming to light, both Joyce and Eric
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: became persons of interest.
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: On one thirteen, twenty twenty two, we initiated a murder
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: investigation for the victim, John Tokuhara. During the course of
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: this ongoing investigation for approximately three weeks, we have determined
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: that there is a link between the victim and the
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: suspect and that this was not a random act. We
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: have discovered that the victim was in a romantic relationship
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: with a female. We now consider this female and another
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: to be persons of interest. Search warrants have been executed
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: on their residence, vehicle, and person. Both persons of interest
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: have been uncooperative and retained attorneys.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Eric Thompson left his house in his white twenty fourteen
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Silverado at about five to twenty pm on the evening
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: of John's murder. The truck drove in the direction of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the highway. There are not enough cameras along the route
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: from the Thompson's house in Kailua to the acupuncture clinic
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: in Waipahu to create an unbroken trail of Eric's movements
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: if this was in fact his Silverado that was spotted
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: on the Depot street at around six pm. Though the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: drive time aligns almost exactly, data on Google Maps showed
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: that it would take a vehicle between thirty five to
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: fifty five minutes, depending on traffic, to reach the area
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: of the clinic from the entrance of the highway if
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: they departed at five twenty pm. The Chevrolet Silverado is
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: first seen on video surveillance in the Waipahu area at
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: five fifty seven PM, which is thirty seven minutes after
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Eric is seen leaving his driveway. Neighbour's cameras showed Eric
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: pulling back into his driveway at six forty seven After
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: returning home, detectives believed that Eric took steps to destroy
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: any evidence of the crime he had just committed. Less
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: than an hour later, the same camera captured lights from
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: a fire in the back of the Thompson's property. The
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: glow of the fire in his backyard lasted about five minutes.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: He also left the house once more that night. On
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: that second trip. There is an item visible in the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: bed of the pickup truck that was not there earlier
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: that night, a crossbox usually used to store tools. The
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: box was still visible when Eric returned again roughly an
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: hour later at ten forty three. A search of the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Thompson home found little to directly link either Eric or
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Joyce to the murder. But where direct evidence was lacking,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: there was an expanding pile of circumstantial clues that couldn't
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: be ignored. A bucket in the backyard sitting inside a
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: wheelbarrow both showed burn marks, signs that items had recently
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: been set aflame. In the house, the HPD collected twelve
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: registered firearms, all belonging to Eric Thompson. They also found
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: two additional guns. These were unregistered of Eric's collection. Two
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: guns matched the models that had already been determined as
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the likely murder weapon, twenty two caliber rifles. However, testing
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: found that none of these firearms were a match, leading
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: to further speculation as to what could have been in
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: the back of Eric's pickup on his second drive from
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the house. What they did find were over a thousand
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: rounds of twenty two caliber bullets. There was one final
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: piece of evidence that threatened to either solidify the case
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: against Eric Thompson or destroy it. The light colored bucket
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: hat worn by the assumed gunman as he entered and
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: exited the clinic. As the shooter crossed Waipahu Depot Street
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: after leaving the clinic, the bucket style hat is captured
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: falling to the ground. It was left behind by the assailant.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: The hat sat on the street for ten minutes or
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: so before a pedestrian spotted it and took it with them.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: The pedestrian who collected the hat was eventually located a
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: homeless man who briefly wore the hat himself until reaching
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: his campsite, where he hung the hat up in his
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: tent and never wore it again. After processing the hat,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: technicians found fibers and a hare. These were processed alongside
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: two samples swabbed from the inside of the hat, on
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the rim and the crown. The results were not exactly damning.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Eric Thompson could not be excluded as the source of
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the DNA. On Valentine's Day twenty twenty two, Eric Thompson
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: was arrested and charged with second degree murder and carrying
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: or use of a firearm in the commission of a
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: separate felony. He posted a one million dollar bond and
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: prepared for trial.
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: Mister Thompson will be entering a plea of not guilty
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: and we will be proceeding to trial in this case.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: When the trial commenced in July twenty twenty three, the
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: state's arguments focused heavily on the motive Joyce's affair with John,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: in the nature of the murder itself four gunshots to
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the head being a personal anger fueled attack. They painted
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a picture of the perfect life and marriage that Eric
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: thought he once had, calling the thirty four year old
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: a controlling perfectionist. Eric worked hard to start a successful
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: business and save for a down payment on a two
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: million dollar home. When he found out about his wife,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Joyce's affair with John Tokuhara, he made her confess to
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: her parents and apologize for the affair.
• 19:11
  Speaker 7: Over fifty six hundred DMS direct messages between John and
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: one of his former clients, Joyce Thompson, and these messages
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: are important because they were very sexual and intimate in nature,
• 19:27
  Speaker 7: including nude photographs and videos, and the messages revealed that
• 19:33
  Speaker 7: Eric found out about the affair not once, not twice,
• 19:40
  Speaker 7: not three times, but four times to the face this
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: was personal. To finally get back to that perfect life,
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: he would have to end the life of the man
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: who threatened a doll, and as long as John remained alive,
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: Eric Thompson's lif would remain imperfect. So he made a
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: plan to finally fix it that the defendant tried to
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: play how to get Away with murder, but he failed.
• 20:12
  Speaker 7: He failed because of the relentless pursuit of HBD watching
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: week's worth of video surveillance.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: When it came time for Eric's defense to present their arguments,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: a case that had seemed so clear cut was thrown
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: into disarray, and along with it, the unfailingly positive image
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: of John Tokuhara. It seems that his affair with Joyce
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Thompson was not the first that John had with another
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: man's wife or partner, not even close. The defense lined
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: up witnesses to testify to the acupuncturist's previous relationships, which
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: had been the cause of at least one other divorce.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: His personal life was not the only source of controversy.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Alongside text messages on John's phone detailing his romances were
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: indications that he was in involved in illegal gambling. According
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: to Eric's defense team, the four thousand dollars in large
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: bills found at the murder scene, and John's betting activities
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: were never properly investigated.
• 21:13
  Speaker 8: You will hear evidence that John Tulkuhara had a track
• 21:18
  Speaker 8: record of cheating with being becoming involved with women who
• 21:26
  Speaker 8: were in relationships. Twenty five hundred messages with another woman. Okay,
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: we didn't follow up on that one. Okay, we didn't
• 21:36
  Speaker 8: follow up on the woman he the messages he ghosted,
• 21:40
  Speaker 8: We didn't follow up on the gambling posts. The detectives
• 21:43
  Speaker 8: told witnesses. Specifically, John was not involved in a gambling well,
• 21:48
  Speaker 8: he had a secret life. Eric did not kill John Tolkahara,
• 21:54
  Speaker 8: and there will not be any evidence of it. I
• 21:58
  Speaker 8: strite that there will be massive reasons.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: John DeMarco told the jury how his ex wife began
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: an affair with John that led to the dissolution of
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: his marriage. His wife had also been one of John's
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: acupuncture patients. He testified that he has since moved on, remarried,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and held no ill will towards John. Indeed, the acupuncturists
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: became like a father figure to their daughter before eventually
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: splitting with DeMarco's ex wife.
• 22:27
  Speaker 9: Said kind of like good ridden you know, was he
• 22:29
  Speaker 9: could have her and I wanted to just focus on
• 22:32
  Speaker 9: my kid's life and myself.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: So while the prosecution maintained that only Eric Thompson had
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: a motive for murder, the defense countered with witnesses that
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: ostensibly would hold an identical motive. Daryl Fujita, whose relationship
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: had also ended as a result of an affair with John,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: was also called to testify. Police had explored Darryl as
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a person of interest, but eventually determined he had a
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: tight act and there was no evidence linking him to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the murder, but he did admit to deleting data from
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: his cell phone before talking to police. He expressed his
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: frustration to have been pulled into the investigation at all.
• 23:14
  Speaker 10: I mean, I understand why. I think it's ridiculous, but
• 23:18
  Speaker 10: I understand why. Yes, I mean it's not cool, because
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: literally I have nothing to do with this.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Both John DeMarco and Daryl Fujita testified that they had
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with the murder and that they had
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: no reason to want John dead. Each laid the blame
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: for their failed relationships with their ex partners, not John.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: After initial bouts of hurt and anger, each placed the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: experience behind them and moved on. When Eric Thompson took
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the stand, he testified that after discovering Joyce's affair, he
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: reacted in exactly the same manner. Eric explained and how
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: he Enjoys had approached John with their fertility issues. He
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: had been a help to them both during that time.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Eric was dumbfounded when he discovered the affair after viewing
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the security tape of his wife sneaking out at night.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: He could find no innocent explanation.
• 24:17
  Speaker 9: I was kind of scratching my head like like what
• 24:19
  Speaker 9: why would why would what? Like where are you going?
• 24:24
  Speaker 9: And like where's our daughter? I was pissed, it's really disappointed.
• 24:31
  Speaker 9: I mean, it just didn't make sense that, like John
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: helped us through the pregnancy, and I mean what, I
• 24:40
  Speaker 9: just didn't understand why he would do that if he's
• 24:42
  Speaker 9: just gonna, uh blow it up. Later, the first couple
• 24:47
  Speaker 9: of days I was seeing, you know, call him, chew
• 24:49
  Speaker 9: him out. But it came to the realization that, you know,
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: I don't think I could have said anything to make
• 24:56
  Speaker 9: things better, and I don't think I could get him
• 24:59
  Speaker 9: to say sorry or feel bad. I mean, what's the
• 25:01
  Speaker 9: point you know, like I mean, he I think he
• 25:05
  Speaker 9: obviously didn't care about what I thought, or or like
• 25:08
  Speaker 9: or my family. So I mean, I just realized that
• 25:12
  Speaker 9: there's just no point.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Joyce agreed to stop seeing John. He worked on trying
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to forgive her, and over the following months, he said
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: they were almost back to the same happy place they
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: had been prior to the affair.
• 25:26
  Speaker 9: I think she was truly sorry for it. She made
• 25:29
  Speaker 9: the efforts, you know, she never talked, talked, talked to
• 25:34
  Speaker 9: John again. I came to the realization that, you know,
• 25:37
  Speaker 9: the the problem was with me and Joyce, it wasn't.
• 25:42
  Speaker 9: I mean, she cut him off and she was he was,
• 25:46
  Speaker 9: he was a non factor. After that, I realized I
• 25:48
  Speaker 9: was kind of neglecting her sometimes. She uh, I think
• 25:56
  Speaker 9: I was taking her for granted something.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Eric denied that the Silverado captured driving around Whitepaku that
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: night was his, and he flatly denied killing John Tokuhara on.
• 26:09
  Speaker 8: The right side.
• 26:10
  Speaker 11: You heard the testimony in this case that that's a
• 26:13
  Speaker 11: screenshot from a surveillance video of a white truck in
• 26:18
  Speaker 11: White Paho.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Correct?
• 26:19
  Speaker 9: Correct?
• 26:20
  Speaker 8: Is that your truck?
• 26:21
  Speaker 10: No period?
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: Is that your license plate?
• 26:27
  Speaker 11: Well, were you in any time in White Pahu on
• 26:30
  Speaker 11: January twelfth, twenty twenty two. No January twelfth, twenty twenty
• 26:35
  Speaker 11: two or January thirteenth, twenty twenty two. Did you kill
• 26:41
  Speaker 11: John Toghara?
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: No?
• 26:42
  Speaker 9: I didn't.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: During cross examination, Eric's seeming acceptance of the betrayal was scrutinized.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: He was asked what details he knew of their intimacy.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Did his wife say I love you? Did he ever
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: access her phone and view any of the thousands of messages,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: photos or video shared between them?
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: So she did tell you that she said I'd love
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: you to John Tokuhara.
• 27:06
  Speaker 12: She said yeah at some points, yeah, they were.
• 27:12
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I've seen photos on Joyce's phone, baby photos, family photos.
• 27:17
  Speaker 7: After discovering the affair. You never looked at her messages
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: between her and John Tokuhara. No, you never saw photos
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: on the phone on Joyce's phone.
• 27:28
  Speaker 12: Correct. I never saw videos on Joyce's phont Correct, there
• 27:31
  Speaker 12: were no videos.
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: There were no videos.
• 27:34
  Speaker 12: I didn't see any videos on.
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: Her phone because you never looked on her phone.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Correct, and never looked at her phone after the affair ended.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Eric testified that the trust in their marriage had been
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: restored eleven days before the murder, they entered into a
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: post marital agreement which stated that Eric would get the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: house and sold custody of their daughter if they divorced.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: The prosecutor alleged that Eric made his wife sign the agreement.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: The defense countered that it was Joyce's idea to prove
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: to her husband that she would not be unfaithful ever again.
• 28:12
  Speaker 12: She knew that I was never going to leave her,
• 28:14
  Speaker 12: and she knew that she was never going to cheat again,
• 28:16
  Speaker 12: so she said, hey, look, I'll prove it to you.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: But then problems emerged in the marriage again. Eric had
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: insisted that Joyce stopped seeing psychics after one had supported
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: her choice to have the affair. Eric depicted Joyce's affinity
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: for psychic readings as similar to a substance addiction, like alcoholism.
• 28:38
  Speaker 11: You believe that it's a fair example of an alcoholic
• 28:41
  Speaker 11: who relapses and drinks when you talk about Joyce and psychics.
• 28:45
  Speaker 12: Yeah, I'm not sure if there's a name for that
• 28:48
  Speaker 12: condition or just an obsession, but yeah, it's it's like
• 28:55
  Speaker 12: it's a slippery slope.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: After the affair, she agreed to stop receiving readings by
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: in December of that year, a month before John's murder,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Joyce again reached out to a psychic. The prosecution alleged
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: this was a breach in trust that showed the marriage
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: had not healed as Eric claimed. It was also an
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: example of how he continued to try to control his wife.
• 29:19
  Speaker 12: He was done with psychics, and then I come to
• 29:21
  Speaker 12: find out that she was seeking another one.
• 29:28
  Speaker 11: So you still didn't trust your wife.
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: In December of twenty twenty.
• 29:30
  Speaker 12: One, during that psychic incident, yes, Eric.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Also testified to his movements on the night in question,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: accounting for the footage capturing his truck leaving the driveway
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: at five twenty pm and then again at just before ten.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: He testified that on the first trip he was dumping
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: construction materials a small load of bricks at the Wymanalo
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: convenience center. The second trip was to the shop to
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: purchase a a handful of food items. He paid in cash.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: There is no video surveillance, receipts, transactions, or witnesses who
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: could verify Eric's alibi. In fact, the prosecution called Rocky Havier,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: a security guard at the dump. Rocky was working on
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: that night and testified that he's never seen Eric Thompson before.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: He added that the bricks Eric says he dumped would
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: not be allowed at the site they were prohibited items. Nonetheless,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: he doesn't keep track of every person that comes through
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: or inspect every load. It is not possible to be
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: that thorough when the site is busy. Footage of Eric
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Silverado also shows an empty truck bed when leaving the
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: drive at five point twenty. There are no bricks visible
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: of the flames emanating from his backyard for a span
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: of five minutes that night. Eric said these were caused
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: by tiki torches. He often lights these in the back
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: when he takes his daughter outside to play in the evenings.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: The defense called its own fire expert, who testified that
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the flames captured in the neighbour's camera could very well
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: have been from tiki torches. Eric explained that he used
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the bucket in wheelbarrow to melt metal for work projects.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: It was not only the video footage that was called
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: into question. A defense DNA expert testified that the similarities
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: in the testing from the bucket style hat could in
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: fact not be a match to Eric Thompson at all,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: With the gaps in the footage of the Silverado and
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the weakness of the DNA testing, Eric's attorney was able
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: to argue that the state had failed to place him
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: at the crime scene. Furthermore, investigators needed to make multiple
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: adjustments to the time stamps recorded on the various security
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: cameras collected from businesses across Waipahu to align to real time.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: This was necessary to piece together the movements of the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Silverado and to link that vehicle to the unknown man.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: That process proved complicated upon Eric's arrest. The evidence stated
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: that the man and the bucket had believed to be Eric,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: entered the clinic at about six sixteen pm and remained
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: there for forty eight seconds, during which time John was
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: struck with four gunshots to the head. But the same
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: arrest effidavit states that John's phone was then unlocked at
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: six eighteen pm, two minutes later. Aspects of the timeline
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: were not exactly lining up.
• 32:34
  Speaker 13: Here by the door, there, walking along by the stepping stones,
• 32:40
  Speaker 13: there in a truck, all in roughly the same time period.
• 32:44
  Speaker 13: They needed to come up here and explain it all
• 32:46
  Speaker 13: to you. They have not done so.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: The cell phone data also showed that John's game of
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Pokemon Go appeared to be active for hours after the
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: time of death theorized by the state. They posited that
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: the out implication closed when the phone ran out of battery,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: but if it was instead turned off, then John must
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: have still been alive after eight pm then it got
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: turned off.
• 33:14
  Speaker 12: It's possible.
• 33:15
  Speaker 8: What do you mean it's possible. Why is it not possible?
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: I just said it's possible.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Joyce Thompson, protected by spousal privilege, did not testify. While
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the defense spoke about what they called John Tokuhara's secret life,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: prosecutors spoke about Eric's deceitfulness and lies.
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: He was dishonest about the status of his relationship, and
• 33:40
  Speaker 7: he was dishonest about his whereabouts on January twelfth, twenty
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: twenty two. Because the truth is that he still harbored
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: ill intent towards John Tokohara.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: The jury deliberated for three full days, after which they
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: returned deadlocked. Judge Paul Wong declared a mistrial. Nine jurors
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: had voted guilty, three believed that he should be acquitted.
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: I feel like a lot of it was, I guess,
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: I suppose, not concrete evidence, and they wanted that concrete evidence,
• 34:13
  Speaker 5: something tangible.
• 34:14
  Speaker 12: It was hard, really hard to get everybody on board
• 34:18
  Speaker 12: for one decision.
• 34:21
  Speaker 6: I think the biggest lesson from this is that first
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: impressions by the media in the media, especially with prosecution
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: press releases, do not tell the whole story. In this case,
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: the jury was able to see what actually happened and
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: the real story, and we're going to look forward to
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: presenting that again in a second trial.
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: There's just always going to be bumps along the road,
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: and what we're expecting in the next trial.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: To see what.
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: Evidence comes out, and I think we'll have a better
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: result next time.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: A second trial was initially scheduled for October twenty twenty three,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: though it never took place at the time of publication.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: There is no available date for retrial. That was the
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: case of John Tokohara and Eric and Joyce Thompson. Thank
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: you once again for joining me, and a special thanks
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: to True Crime with Stephanie Michelle for joining our members lounge.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure to go and check out your
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: channel later tonight. For now, I'm Kevin. This is just
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: thought lounge, and I'll see in the next one.
• 35:34
  Speaker 14: These crimes get deep, but these stories can't high Let
• 35:36
  Speaker 14: me find my seat, Kevin, go ahead, and settle in.
• 35:39
  Speaker 14: Gotta be selective doing other research, keeping it objective, always
• 35:42
  Speaker 14: being effective. Can say he got a neck, pick it
• 35:45
  Speaker 14: a litter. You see how Newton got his back. Yeah,
• 35:47
  Speaker 14: the content that you need. This could be a new
• 35:49
  Speaker 14: sign talk comments like that