On the evening of May 25, officers responding to a disturbance call in Pāhoa found Robert “Bob” Shine, 69, partially submerged in a cement pond in his front yard. At first glance, there were no obvious signs of foul play. But the scene felt wrong, and detectives stayed. An autopsy performed two days later confirmed what they suspected: Shine had been strangled.
By Tuesday night, two more men were dead.
Jacob Daniel Baker, 36, a suspect in three killings on Hawaii’s Big Island, was arrested without incident Thursday, nearly three days after the first body was discovered. Two women had sought restraining orders against Baker days before the bodies were discovered, alleging he threatened their lives, according to documents.
The three victims were all elderly men living in the Puna District, a rural, volcanic stretch of Hawaii’s Big Island known for its off-grid communities, lava fields, and dense jungle. Two of the three victims were Robert Shine and John Carse, both 69-year-old residents of Pāhoa. The third, a 79-year-old man, had not been officially identified as of Saturday pending notification of next of kin.
Baker had recently been evicted from communal housing at Josanna’s Organic Garden on Papaya Farms Road. He reportedly showed up at different properties, asking to stay for a few days. He was taken in by one of the victims several days before the man was killed. Baker had been kicked out and moved to a property where there was a communal living situation, but he allegedly attacked multiple people and kicked a dog’s head.
The manhunt that followed his disappearance involved the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and police departments from across the Hawaiian islands. For two days, Baker stayed invisible, hiding in terrain that challenged even trained search teams. Baker posted odd videos to social media in the days leading up to the killings. Residents of Pāhoa, a community where many people do not bother locking their doors, were told to stay inside.
On Thursday afternoon at 2:38 p.m., a tip came in from the Kaimu Cove area. Video surveillance had captured Baker hiding in a vacant lot, repeatedly ducking down as passing traffic approached. Officers responded and found him concealed inside a small cave on a neighboring property, the same property adjacent to the land where the third victim had lived. He was taken into custody without incident.
“It feels like a community-wide celebration,” said Puna resident Priya Surrago. Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda thanked law enforcement and the public alike, saying the community had proven that seeing something and saying something works.
No motive has been officially disclosed. The investigations remain ongoing.
Three men are dead, two restraining orders went unenforced, and a suspect was hiding in a cave next to his last victim’s property. What does that tell us about the gaps in the system that was supposed to prevent this?