Latest news with #McKinleyHighSchool
Daily Record
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Glee cast then and now from tragic deaths to pop star romances and reality TV
It's been over a decade since Glee was on our TV screens since first airing in 2015, but where are some of the cast of McKinley High School now? Glee still has a hold on its huge fanbase over a decade on from the show's series finale. It first premiered on May 19, 2009, now marking 11 years on from one of the best-loved musical series. The programme narrated the highs and lows of Spanish teacher Will Schuester, embodied by actor Matthew Morrison, as he attempted to breathe new life into William McKinley High School's glee club, which was on the edge of disaster. Over the series' six seasons, which came to an end on March 20, 2015, its soundtracks regularly hit the top 100 charts, showcasing its well-earned right that it wasn't just a TV show. Its popularity saw it launch a 2010 concert tour and the careers of stars including Lea Michele and Darren Criss. Now, over a decade after the McKinley High School glee club performed for the very last time, what have the cast has been doing since Glee came to an end? Sadly there's been more than one tragic death in the cast, dramas behind filming, joining Beyonce on stage and dipping their toes in reality TV. Some cast members are now loved-up with kids of their own. Let's take a closer look... Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Lea Michele (Rachel Berry) Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester) Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester)
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘She wants justice,' Friends of cold case murder victim ask why suspect not charged
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Honolulu Police said DNA evidence identified the man who killed a teenager 48 years ago. But before that man was charged with murder, he was released and the victim's loved ones want to know why. It's been almost 50 years since Jan Koehler last saw her friend Dawn Momohara. And her heart still hurts for her. DNA testing identifies suspect of Dawn Momohara cold case 'She's my friend, I miss her every day,' said Jan Koehler, Momohara's childhood friend. 'She would've made something of her life. She probably would've been the president of the bank or something. She was really, she was quite special.' Momohara was 16 years old when her body was found at McKinley High School's W-building in March 1977. Koheler still clearly remembers that Monday morning. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news 'The police came over to me and he said 'Oh do you know Dawn Momohara' And I said 'Yeah I know Dawn Momohara' He said 'Can I talk to you for a minute,'' said Koheler. 'So he took me over, over to the side and he's like, well um we found her upstairs, and I just burst into tears it was just really sad.' An autopsy found that Momohara was sexually assaulted and strangled. Koehler said Momohara was a good girl, studious and would never put herself in a compromising position. Koheler said she didn't see Momohara that weekend and thinks she might've gone to see a comedy show at the Blaisdell. After decades with no leads, a breakthrough in 2019 with the help of new technology in DNA testing. Police determined possible suspects in 202 and an arrest was finally made this January. However, before suspect Gideon Castro was extradited from Utah to Hawaii, Honolulu prosecutors sent a letter to authorities in Salt Lake, outlining 'recent complications involving a material witness and the state of the evidence.' Utah judge orders release of suspect in Momohara killing after prosecution stalls The letter also states that 'further investigation is necessary before we proceed with extradition, which will require considerable funding and resources.' 'So go all to that trouble to do that, only now to get back, okay we found the guy, oh sorry, no more money, I mean what are you talking about,' said Koehler. 'Why bother then? You know it's, finish the job. Go get him and bring him back here. He needs to serve time he killed my friend.' Prosecutors said they view this as a 'temporary setback' and said the case is still under investigation. In the meantime, the 66-year-old suspect is free, released back to the nursing home where he was arrested. 'I want answers from the mayor,' said Koehler. 'I wanna know why he's not being extradited back here. You know he murdered somebody, and he needs to serve time for his crime that he committed against my friend.' After decades of questions, Momohara's loved ones just want answers. Check out more news from around Hawaii 'I think closure for sure,' said Koehler. 'We're all looking for closure. And I think for closure, we would really love for him to be prosecuted and found guilty of murder and go to jail.' 'I think she wants justice,' she said. 'I think she knows what's going on. She wants justice.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
14-03-2025
- CBS News
Schoolmate arrested in Hawaii girl's 1977 murder released from Utah jail as prosecution stalls
A 66-year-old suspect in the 1977 killing of a Hawaii teenager was released from a Utah jail on Thursday after prosecutors in Honolulu said they weren't ready to proceed with a murder charge against him. Gideon Castro was arrested in January at a Utah nursing home on a fugitive warrant for suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Dawn Momohara. He had waived the right to challenge his extradition during a hearing in Salt Lake City last month. Castro, who is ill, appeared by video from a hospital bed. While Castro was still awaiting extradition, Honolulu prosecutors told their counterparts in Utah this week that they were not proceeding against him because of "recent complications involving a material witness in this case and the state of the evidence." "Please understand we view this as only a temporary setback, and we remain fully committed to continuing our efforts to prosecute this matter in the near future," Kelsi Guerra, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Honolulu, wrote in a Monday letter to Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Clifford Ross. Utah District Court Judge John Nielsen ordered Castro's release late Wednesday afternoon. He was released Thursday, said Chris Bronson, spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. On March 21, 1977, shortly after 7:30 a.m., Honolulu police found the body of Momohara on the second floor of a building at McKinley High School. Momohara was partially clothed and lying on her back with an orange cloth tied around her neck, said Lt. Deena Thoemmes, of Honolulu Police. A subsequent autopsy ruled Momohara was strangled to death, and the medical examiner said there were signs of sexual assault. Castro graduated from the Honolulu school in 1976. An attorney for Castro had said during a hearing last month in Salt Lake City that he intended to fight the charges upon his return to Hawaii, where he is still a resident, according to jail records. It is unclear how long Castro had been in Utah when he was arrested at the nursing home in Millcreek, just south of Salt Lake City. A McKinley High School graduate who was the school's band teacher at the time of Momohara's death said he was disappointed to learn of Castro's release. "I guess they've got to make sure they have a rock-solid case," Grant Okamura said. "In a sense I'm disappointed that they couldn't at least go to trial but I can understand their nervousness that they don't want to just haphazardly go into something and have it thrown out." Authorities in Hawaii said Thursday that they were continuing with their investigation into Momohara's killing. No further information was being released at this time, Honolulu police spokesperson Michelle Yu said. Following Momohara's death, police released sketches of a person of interest and a possible vehicle described by witnesses as a 1974 or 1975 Pontiac LeMans. But they were unable to identify a suspect, and the case grew cold. Several days after Momohara was killed, detectives interviewed Castro. He said he met Momohara at a school dance that year and last saw her at a carnival on campus in February 1977. Police interviewed his brother, who also met Momohara at the dance In November 2023, Honolulu police went to Chicago, where the brother was living. They "surreptitiously" obtained DNA from one of the brother's adult children, police said. Lab findings excluded the brother as a suspect, but a DNA sample from Castro's adult son, and later from Castro himself, proved he was responsible, police said. Castro was arrested last month at the nursing home where he had been living in Millcreek, just south of Salt Lake City, on a fugitive warrant for suspicion of second-degree murder. Jail records indicate he is still a resident of Hawaii, and it is unclear how long he had been living in Utah.
NBC News
14-03-2025
- NBC News
Utah judge orders release of suspect in 1977 Hawaii killing after prosecution stalls
SALT LAKE CITY — A 66-year-old suspect in the 1977 killing of a Hawaii teenager was released from a Utah jail on Thursday after prosecutors in Honolulu said they weren't ready to proceed with a murder charge against him. Gideon Castro was arrested in January at a Utah nursing home on a fugitive warrant for suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Dawn Momohara. He had waived the right to challenge his extradition during a hearing in Salt Lake City last month. Castro, who is ill, appeared by video from a hospital bed. While Castro was still awaiting extradition, Honolulu prosecutors told their counterparts in Utah this week that they were not proceeding against him because of 'recent complications involving a material witness in this case and the state of the evidence.' 'Please understand we view this as only a temporary setback, and we remain fully committed to continuing our efforts to prosecute this matter in the near future,' Kelsi Guerra, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Honolulu, wrote in a Monday letter to Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Clifford Ross. Utah District Court Judge John Nielsen ordered Castro's release late Wednesday afternoon. He was released Thursday, said Chris Bronson, spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. On March 21, 1977, shortly after 7:30 a.m., Honolulu police found the body of Momohara on the second floor of a building at McKinley High School. She was lying on her back, partially clothed with an orange cloth wrapped tightly around her neck and had been sexually assaulted and strangled, police said. Castro graduated from the Honolulu school in 1976. An attorney for Castro had said during a hearing last month in Salt Lake City that he intended to fight the charges upon his return to Hawaii, where he is still a resident, according to jail records. It is unclear how long Castro had been in Utah when he was arrested at the nursing home in Millcreek, just south of Salt Lake City. A McKinley High School graduate who was the school's band teacher at the time of Momohara's death said he was disappointed to learn of Castro's release. 'I guess they've got to make sure they have a rock-solid case,' Grant Okamura said. 'In a sense I'm disappointed that they couldn't at least go to trial but I can understand their nervousness that they don't want to just haphazardly go into something and have it thrown out.' Authorities in Hawaii said Thursday that they were continuing with their investigation into Momohara's killing. No further information was being released at this time, Honolulu police spokesperson Michelle Yu said. Following Momohara's death, police released sketches of a person of interest and a possible vehicle described by witnesses as a 1974 or 1975 Pontiac LeMans. But they were unable to identify a suspect, and the case grew cold. Police used advances in DNA technology to connect Castro to the killing. They had interviewed Castro and his brother in 1977, but they were unable to conclusively link Castro to the killing until obtaining DNA samples in recent years.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Grim memories resurface after DNA advances lead to arrest of suspect in Hawaii teen's 1977 murder
HONOLULU (AP) — Former Hawaii lawmaker Suzanne Chun Oakland remembers arriving at school one morning in 1977 to an eerie buzz. She had met up with girlfriends as usual before class at Honolulu's McKinley High School when she learned a student named Dawn Momohara had been found dead on the second floor of a school building. 'I don't know how we got word of it, but everything spread really quickly,' Chun Oakland said. Chun Oakland didn't know Momohara, who was 16, but the unsolved death has haunted her and other McKinley students and staff for nearly half a century. That was until last week, when police used advances in DNA technology to arrest a 66-year-old resident of a Utah nursing home. The suspect, former McKinley student Gideon Castro, made his initial court appearance on Friday from a hospital bed in the medical wing of a Utah jail after an earlier appearance was canceled for health reasons. Castro told the judge he wanted to hire his own attorney and was ordered to return virtually to Salt Lake County District Court on Wednesday. He remained in custody Friday with the bond for his release set at $250,000, according to Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office records. Castro's current court-appointed attorney, Marlene Mohn, did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment. 'I was just really sad," Chun Oakland recalled earlier this week. "I think for our student body, of course, there's that concern that what if he's still out there and he does it to somebody else.' On March 21, 1977, shortly after 7:30 a.m., Honolulu police found Momohara lying on her back, partially clothed, an orange cloth wrapped tightly around her neck. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled, police said. Details from more than four decades ago are fuzzy for 1967 McKinley graduate Grant Okamura, who was the school's 28-year-old band teacher in 1977, but the morning Momohara was found remains a core memory. Momohara's sister — one of Okamura's flute players — arrived at school that day not knowing her sister had been found dead, he recalled. The sister was called to the office and later walked into the band room, devastated. 'The other students were trying to console her," Okamura said. "At that point, I couldn't have band. How do you have a class? She just sat there crying.' She didn't return to school for weeks afterward. He doesn't remember the sister's name. The Associated Press was unable to make contact with any possible relatives. Okamura said he met Momohara a few times when he let her into the air-conditioned band room to wait for her sister. The morning before Momohara was killed, she got a call from an unknown male and told her mother she was going to a nearby shopping center with friends. That was the last time her mother saw her, homicide Lt. Deena Thoemmes said. Police released sketches of a person of interest and a possible vehicle described by witnesses as a 1974 or 1975 Pontiac LeMans. A witness reported seeing the car when he and his girlfriend drove through campus the night before Momohara died. The witness saw a man and the car on the grass near the school's English building, Thoemmes said. The witness circled back around but the car and the man were gone. Police were unable to identify a suspect and the case grew cold, though grief lingered over the campus. In 2019, cold case detectives asked a forensic biology unit to examine several items of evidence from the scene, including Momohara's underwear. They were able to develop a DNA profile in 2020. Then, in 2023, police received information about potential suspects — two brothers who had been interviewed in 1977. Several days after Momohara was killed, detectives interviewed Castro, who graduated from McKinley High in 1976. He said he met Momohara at a school dance that year and last saw her at a carnival on campus in February 1977. Police interviewed his brother, who also met Momohara at the dance. In November 2023, Honolulu police went to Chicago, where the brother was living. They 'surreptitiously' obtained DNA from one of the brother's adult children, Thoemmes said. Lab findings excluded the brother as a suspect, but a DNA sample from Castro's adult son, and later from Castro himself, proved he was responsible, Thoemmes said. He was arrested last week at the nursing home where he lived in Millcreek, just south of Salt Lake City, on suspicion of second-degree murder. Neither Okamura nor Chun Oakland remembered Castro. Chun Oakland graduated in 1979 and grew up to become a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate. She said Momohara's killing bothered her over the years, especially when she would meet victims through her work as a lawmaker or as a board member of the nonprofit Sex Abuse Treatment Center, a statewide program providing services for sexual assault survivors. The former lawmaker said she is grateful an arrest was possible even after all these years. 'I think the community in general, and our elected officials, they know the importance of trying to preserve the evidence that can someday be able to see justice for that individual or individuals," she said. ___ Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City. Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Hannah Schoenbaum, The Associated Press
